


A Theory of Everything - Sherlock meta

by tjlcisthenewsexy



Series: tjlcisthenewsexy's old tumblr metas [2]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Analysis, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Meta, Sherlock Meta, TJLC | The Johnlock Conspiracy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-20 17:03:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 22,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17026656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tjlcisthenewsexy/pseuds/tjlcisthenewsexy
Summary: A pre-s4 meta from my tumblr blog (cut and pasted). Many links won't work. You can find the original date it was published (on tumblr) at the bottom of the work. You might notice with this one in particular, that I was somewhat close to predicting certain S4 plot points.....somewhat :)





	1. A Mycroft Theory

**Author's Note:**

> A pre-s4 meta from my tumblr blog (cut and pasted). Many links won't work. You can find the original date it was published (on tumblr) at the bottom of the work. You might notice with this one in particular, that I was somewhat close to predicting certain S4 plot points.....somewhat :)

A lot of people resist the notion of Mycroft as ‘big bad’ (the one for whom all the other villains work), despite lots of evidence to the contrary, including (just as a single example of many) the very blatant fact that the way his character is introduced in ASiP is an often used technique for the introduction of a villain. That is; we are first lead to believe he is Moriarty, before we find out at the end that he’s just Sherlock’s harmless snooty brother.  But by the mere suggestion of him as a villain it has now planted the idea in our subconscious, with the intention that by the time it is finally revealed we will kick ourselves for not having seen it coming.  

The reason I find that most people do resist the idea, is that they can’t imagine that his motives are evil, or that his love for his brother isn’t real. And I’m here to tell you that neither of these things being true means that Mycroft can’t be the driving force behind all the evil that has happened to Sherlock and John. Mycroft could be the source of ‘Moriarty’, and the one ‘behind it all’,  _without_  being a typical villain or a bad guy, and without having dark motives or an evil agenda. 

Instead, i’ll argue that it’s a case of  **misplaced love and protection** , thinking he’s doing the right thing when he’s not, and the cause of it all are the unfortunate side-effects of Mycroft’s position and power. I think Mycroft  _does_  have an agenda, and it’s gotten him involved with Moriarty AND Mary AND Magnussen, but that his agenda arose from his love for Sherlock, and his motivation to protect Sherlock from harm.

Continued under the cut… 

**Pressure Point Theory**

I think that the entire hidden premise of the show (aside from johnlock) is the fact that  _Sherlock is Mycroft’s pressure point._

It isn’t until  _His Last Vow_  that we’re shown and told quite clearly, that when you’re high up in the government it’s not a good thing to have a pressure point. I think Mycroft has gone to extreme lengths to protect Sherlock from being used as leverage by anybody with motive to manipulate Mycroft “basically the british government” Holmes.

Magnussen explains the ‘pressure point’ in  _His Last Vow_ , even though the term was first used by Moriarty in TRF. 

MAGNUSSEN: Let me explain how leverage works, Doctor Watson.  
MAGNUSSEN  _(turning back to the others)_ : For those who understand these things, Mycroft Holmes is the most powerful man in the country. Well … apart from me.  
MAGNUSSEN: Mycroft’s pressure point is his junkie detective brother, Sherlock.  
MAGNUSSEN: And Sherlock’s pressure point is his best friend, John Watson. John Watson’s pressure point is his wife. I own John Watson’s wife … _(he looks round to Sherlock)_ … I own Mycroft. 

What if this is the solution to understanding how power works in the  _Sherlock_  universe? Leverage and pressure points.

What follows is a train of logic, similar to a deduction, of how we can take all the facts as given, and end up with only one possible solution. Each fact as given by the dialogue and the story, must connect to other facts as given by the dialogue and story. The inbetween bits that are unseen can tell us what must have happened in order for those events to connect. As if the visible show is the peak of a mountain sticking out above the clouds, but the rest of what happened off-camera is there underneath waiting to be found.

If we speculate that someone has Mycroft under their thumb, like many do, then how did they do it? They must have had leverage. But I’ve never seen this addressed. How exactly does one put  _Mycroft Holmes_  under their thumb. You can’t just ask him politely to please do your bidding. 

To have leverage, you need to find a way to make someone act against their will a.k.a. put them under your thumb. There are limited ways of actually doing this in real life; violence, bribes, blackmail, mind-control … that’s about it.

So we could propose that Magnussen’s explanation of leverage in HLV might be a clue to how power works. And that, for the purposes of Moftiss needing to write a solveable mystery, perhaps ALL power in the  _Sherlock_ universe comes from leverage and pressure points, and that from this idea, we can deduce a few things that might give us some answers, including how Mycroft came to be under Moriarty’s thumb. 

Because if all leverage comes from pressure points, then instead of one person being permanently under another’s thumb, power could change hands suddenly, and frequently, as new pressure points are discovered then utilized. Because it’s a game of chess, and anyone can nudge back into the lead when they see and grab a chance at the advantage. One player spots a weakness, and makes a move. Pieces are taken, and a piece that was trapped now traps another. 

We’re introduced to the chess analogy in the pill scene in ASiP, and as many people have noted, ASiP in some ways seems to mirror the plot of the entire five series. 

We see the story only from the perspective of the pawns; Sherlock and John, two people without any ambitious motives, who just want to live their lives but are caught up in somebody else’s game. And I think there are clues along the way to who the “players” are, and who is “winning” the game at any given time. 

Part of the plot of  _His Last Vow_  is there to show us what happens to people in the top levels of power. Which is: They are targeted by people who have motive to manipulate them. Magnussen is given to us as the manipulator, and he shows us how manipulation works; with pressure points. Then with Lady Smallwood as a mirror for Mycroft, we’re shown how it all plays out, and what is truly at stake for someone in Mycroft’s position. 

 _His Last Vow_  opens with a scene which implies that Magnussen is blackmailing the Prime Minister. Then we are shown Lady Smallwood being threatened and blackmailed. Later, when Lady Smallwood receives the phone call that Moriarty is back, the first two people she informs are the Prime Minister, and Mycroft. These are the three most powerful figures in the country - Mycroft, the Prime Minister, and Lady Smallwood - and we are  _shown_  Magnussen having influence over  _two_  of them. The implication that Mycroft is also being blackmailed by Magnussen is a slightly obscured part of the plot, but Magnussen  _tells_  us that he has power over Mycroft…

_Magnussen: **Mycroft Holmes is the most powerful man in the country. Well … apart from me.  
**_

and Sherlock  _deduces_  it…

 _Mycroft: You can consider him under my protection.  
_ _Sherlock: **I consider you under his thumb.**_

So what we’re missing here, what we’re not being shown, is  _how_ Magnussen influenced Mycroft, and why. And it’s significant that in an episode all about leverage, that there is an implication of Mycroft being under someone’s thumb without showing us who was being threatened as leverage for Mycroft. 

They didn’t show us Magnussen’s “pressure-point” read-out on Mycroft, which means they don’t want us to see it, for obvious reasons. But then Magnussen of course tells us that Mycroft’s pressure point is his “junkie detective brother” Sherlock. So Sherlock is the only one of Mycroft’s pressure points we know about for now. But we can reasonably assume that Mycroft might have additional pressure points that Magnussen knows about. 

So Mycroft’s pressure point is Sherlock, Sherlock’s pressure point is John, and John’s is Mary. And as Magnussen explains at Appledore, if he owns the bottom of the chain (Mary), he own’s the top (Mycroft).  We hear this and accept it, but I think there’s more to this exchange than meets the eye. Because I realized that the idea of manipulating the person at the top of the pressure point “chain” by threatening the person at the bottom of the chain doesn’t actually make sense in practice.

Magnussen tells us that he’s using Mary to manipulate John, then using John to manipulate Sherlock, then Sherlock to manipulate Mycroft, so that he can use the info he possesses on Mary’s identity to influence Mycroft via this supposed “chain” of pressure points. But he tells us himself that Sherlock is Mycroft’s pressure point, so why didn’t he just threaten Sherlock as leverage for Mycroft? Why bother threatening each one of them in turn, in order to use Mary against Mycroft? 

Magnussen had something on Mary…good for him. That would come in handy if he ever needed to say… influence  _Mary herself_ , or  _John_ , or anyone else for whom Mary is a  _pressure point_. So this doesn’t explain why Magnussen used  _Mary_  to threaten Mycroft, instead of taking the seemingly easier route of just throwing Sherlock, Mycroft’s pressure point, in a bonfire.

Sherlock is Mycroft’s pressure point because a pressure point is the ONLY thing that will work as leverage. That’s  _why_  it’s a pressure point. So Mycroft should only react if his pressure point, Sherlock, were threatened. Mycroft theoretically should not need to respond at all to a threat to Mary, because Mary is not his pressure point. Unless she is. 

Are you confused? Excellent! I think the pressure point “chain” is an illusion, and we’ve been duped by a teensy bit of word play. Because a threat to Mary shouldn’t initiate a reaction from Mycroft at all. There is no chain. There are just pressure points.

So DID Magnussen use Sherlock to manipulate Mycroft? If he did, we weren’t shown, or told explicitly that it was happening. Because we DO see Magnussen taunt John with knowledge of Mary’s past to manipulate him, and to manipulate Mary herself. And he puts John in a fire to expose John as Sherlock’s priority. If Sherlock was ever threatened in a similar way as leverage for Mycroft, it was obscured, or not explicit. Right? Right. 

Now that you’re nice and confused, here’s a simpler explanation…

If we weren’t shown Magnussen using Sherlock as leverage, then Magnussen might have used something else or someone else to influence Mycroft and put him under his thumb. We don’t know what it is though. Or maybe we do, because we were told, and shown. Here’s the dialogue from that scene again.

MAGNUSSEN: Mycroft’s pressure point is his junkie detective brother, Sherlock.  
MAGNUSSEN: And Sherlock’s pressure point is his best friend, John Watson. John Watson’s pressure point is his wife. I own John Watson’s wife… I own Mycroft. 

We create the idea of the pressure point “chain” in our mind to try and make sense of the dialogue. But the solution to how Magnussen had leverage over Mycroft is right there…

_**I own John Watson’s wife… I own Mycroft.** _

Because John Watson’s wife is Mycroft’s pressure point. Why is she his pressure point? Because she knows something, or has something, or IS something that could expose Mycroft’s work and his agenda.  

I think the concept of pressure points can give us a tiny bit of very significant insight into the dynamic between Mycroft and Sherlock. As a reminder, Mycroft…

“…  **ISthe British government, when he’s not too busy being the British Secret Service or the CIA on a freelance basis.”**

In  _His Last Vow_ , we’re told that Sherlock is Mycroft’s pressure point, which makes total sense. He’s his baby brother, he loves him, and would do anything to protect him. Any Mycroft-as-Big-Bad theory needs to account for that fact, and this theory does, because it is based on the idea that his love for Sherlock is at the root of Mycroft’s motives and agenda (because  _love is a vicious motivator_ ), but that his love and protection are misplaced.

If Sherlock had always been Mycroft’s pressure point, then surely Sherlock would have had a long history of being abducted, threatened, injured, whatever else, all for use as leverage for Mycroft. Kind of like what we’ve seen John put through because of people wanting to get to Sherlock; abducted, strapped with a bomb, had a gun to his head, a sniper rifle aimed at him, put in a bonfire, and all of that, was  _explicitly_  as leverage for Sherlock.

But if this has happened to Sherlock, we haven’t been told or shown. And if Mycroft had given in to the demands of anyone who threatened Sherlock, then how did he get to even BE the most powerful man in England? To keep Sherlock safe, Mycroft would have had to hand over his power on many occasions. And if he didn’t submit to demands, then Sherlock probably wouldn’t have been around for long. But what we’re shown of Mycroft’s position and success tells us the opposite. It tells us that Mycroft is, and has been, untouchable. That somehow, Mycroft has succeeded in preventing Sherlock from being used as leverage. It’s the only way Mycroft would have been able to rise to his current level of power, and it’s the only way he would be able to keep that power. Somehow, Mycroft must have had NO pressure points.

But WE know that Mycroft  _does_  love and cherish Sherlock. We’re shown. Sherlock IS his critical pressure point, the person he cherishes more than anyone, but…maybe Mycroft managed to convince the world otherwise. Convince them that he  _doesn’t_  hold him dear, that he  _wouldn’t_  rescue him, that there would be no use in using Sherlock for leverage. 

Like I mentioned earlier, Lady Smallwood in  _His Last Vow_  is a mirror for Mycroft, as an example of what happens to those at the top level of power. To tell us she’s Mycroft’s mirror, she wears only black and white for the entire episode, which are [Mycroft’s colours](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/post/144943918140/colours-in-sherlock). I think her story is in the show to give us very important insights into Mycroft. Because what happens to her? Her husband, her pressure point, is threatened.

Magnussen has her husband’s letters that suggest he was having a sexual relationship with an underage girl. Lady Smallwood is adamant that her husband is innocent. But as Magnussen tells us later, truth doesn’t matter in news. He just needs to print it, not prove it.

The next thing we learn about Lady Smallwood towards the end of  _His Last Vow_ , is that her husband committed suicide:

Sherlock was on the case, but Sherlock was shot and never was able to help her in the end. In the meantime, before Magnussen was shot, Lady Smallwood apparently did not submit to the demands made of her, so her husband’s scandalous history was exposed, and he took his own life. This is what happens to people at the top level of power: Their loved ones die. 

What has this got to do with Mycroft though? Well Mycroft supposedly  _had_  another loved one, one who is possibly dead. And we’re even told in the dialogue that a  _lack_  of “brotherly compassion” is  _specifically_  what lead to the demise of ‘the other one’, Mycroft’s other sibling.

I think we’re told here  _exactly_ what happened to ‘the other one’.  **What happened to ‘the other one’ was _Mycroft’s lack of brotherly compassion_**. 

Mycroft’s other sibling was threatened as leverage, but Mycroft  _didn’t_ submit to the demands made of him, and ‘the other one’ died. Mycroft was forced into a difficult position which probably allowed him very little choice in the matter, and ‘the other one’ suffered. This is what prompted Mycroft to go to great lengths to protect Sherlock, his last remaining sibling, from the same fate.

And Lady Smallwood as a mirror backs up this story: She didn’t give in to her manipulator, her husband’s secrets were exposed, and he died. And then what happens after her husband’s death? This…

She’s back at work, still doing her thing, and she has not lost her position or power. In fact, there’s an odd line of dialogue that might be a clue to the power that comes when you have NO pressure points…

…did Mycroft just…ask for someone else’s approval for a decision? Why yes. Because he’s not the most powerful person in England anymore. Lady Smallwood is, because she has NO pressure point, and at this point in the story, Mycroft  _does_.

So using Lady Smallwood as a mirror, we’re shown that powerful people are threatened, they are forced to choose between power or family (ie. individual lives or the greater good), and that their loved ones might suffer or die.  Mycroft scoffs openly that he would act compassionately toward a sibling, grabbing at the opportunity to remind his colleagues that he lets his siblings die rather than give away his power or secrets. Whether or not this is what actually did happen to the other one, Mycroft can use the  _suspicion_  of this to convince everyone that he IS callous, when in fact he is anything but. 

Because what I think Mycroft did after ‘the other one’’s death, was come up with a scheme to maintain his position and power, AND keep his precious little brother alive too. He didn’t want to lose either of these things; he wanted to have his  ~~plum pudding~~  cake, and eat it too. 

How did he do it? Going back to ASiP and earlier, before Mary, before John…how did Mycroft convince the world that Sherlock was not his pressure point? 

We are lead to believe that Mycroft values above anything the idea of being alone, not getting involved; caring is not an advantage. Mycroft says these things, not because he thinks caring is inherently wrong, but simply because he must remain alone in order to avoid having a pressure point. So obviously he can have no romantic relationships. But beyond that, Mycroft needed to invent a persona which portrayed a complete lack of affection for anyone at all. Cold, unfeeling….an  _Ice Man._

He needed to put on a convincing show for the world, that his little brother Sherlock was  _not_  his pressure point, that he would  _not_  rescue him, and that there would be  _no use_  in using Sherlock for leverage. Mycroft could easily laugh in an enemy’s face if they threatened to use his junkie brother as bait. 

But Mycroft doesn’t just play the Ice Man, he tries to persuade Sherlock to do the same. But why? Mycroft tries to instil in Sherlock the idea that alone protects him, that sentiment weakens the mind. We assume that this is Mycroft trying to protect his brother from the emotional trauma of some past wound. If Sherlock never gets involved with anyone, then he will never be hurt again; this is what we  _assume_  is happening.

I disagree that Mycroft is trying to push John and Sherlock together, because all the evidence tells us the exact opposite; that he is encouraging Sherlock NOT to feel, NOT to get involved. 

_All lives end, all hearts are broken. Caring is not an advantage, Sherlock._

_I told you…don’t get involved._

And I don’t think Mycroft says these things because Sherlock has been hurt in the past. I think he says them because Sherlock might be hurt in the future, and I think this is all to do with pressure points and leverage. I think  _Mycroft_  has been hurt in the past, and doesn’t want to be hurt again. He doesn’t want to be hurt again by losing Sherlock as well.

I said earlier that Mycroft isolates himself so that he has no pressure points. I think Mycroft encourages Sherlock not to get involved,  **not to encourage Sherlock to protect himself emotionally, but in order to keep him ISOLATED, to prevent Sherlock from being targeted as leverage for Mycroft.**

 **But how does an isolated Sherlock help protect him from being targeted as leverage for Mycroft?**  

Well, because by keeping Sherlock alone, he is more manoeuvrable, more easily influenced, more likely to follow in his brother’s footsteps, be useful, be compliant. An empowering and satisfying relationship in Sherlock’s life would dilute his brother’s influence over him.  

But more importantly,  _ **being isolated** **kept Sherlock from being noticed**_.

How exactly, I hear you say? The plot of series one tells us how. Sherlock wasn’t happy being alone. It made him more inclined to drug use, which in turn made him less effectual at everyday functioning, which in turn affected his ability to become successful in his career.

Who is Sherlock before he meets John? What changes after John is with him? What are the consequences of this change? Series one and two spell it all out for us.

What we’re shown in series one, is that Sherlock started solving cases  **quicker**  from the moment John joined him on a crime scene. There’s the first John-as-conductor-of-light moment, where John’s comment triggers Sherlock’s epiphany, his realization that the suitcase would be pink…

SHERLOCK  _(looking up the stairs again)_ : No, she never got to the hotel. Look at her hair. She colour-coordinates her lipstick and her shoes. She’d never have left any hotel with her hair still looking …

Then when they’re back at the flat…

JOHN: Pink. You got  _all_ that because you realized the case would be pink?  

**John triggered the epiphany which lead directly to Sherlock making the key discovery that would solve the case.**

The running metaphor of John as the sun, Sherlock’s conductor of light, tells us that Sherlock is anchored, centred, by John’s presence.

**John’s tendency to trigger Sherlock’s epiphanies is symbolic of the healing and empowering influence John has on Sherlock.**

Sherlock is better at his job with John by his side. By the end of TBB, General Shan is killed because Sherlock and John got too close to something that they weren’t meant to be involved with. Jim Moriarty has noticed him, in TGG he plays a game with him, then confronts him at the pool and tells Sherlock what will happen if he doesn’t stop prying. 

Moriarty has supposedly known of Sherlock since they were practically kids. We are led to assume that since the Carl Powers case, Jim kept an eye on Sherlock, known where he is, what he’s doing. So why, after all these years, did Jim only try to make contact with Sherlock during the timeline of TGG? Well, because he knew Sherlock, and from what he knew, he assumed Sherlock was  **ordinary**. Sherlock had never really gotten in Jim’s way before now, never caused too much of a problem for Jim or his clients. Until John shows up that is, and helps Sherlock with the serial suicides case. 

When Jeff Hope (the cabbie) picks Sherlock up in his cab and chats to him about Moriarty, his fan, it’s clear that Jim knows that Jeff Hope is targeting Sherlock as his fifth victim. It’s very likely that Jim  _sent_  Jeff to pick up Sherlock. Why? Why would Jim want Sherlock dead? Well, he doesn’t necessarily.  _He wants to know if Sherlock is, in fact, ordinary, or something else._ If Sherlock is ordinary, Jeff will probably kill him, which is fine, because he wasn’t interesting anyway. Jim Moriarty kept an eye on Sherlock all these years, because he thought perhaps he  _could_  be interesting, but hadn’t yet seen any evidence that he  _was_. 

One way or another, Moriarty would know. And what happened? Sherlock almost died. Sherlock chose the wrong pill. Sherlock should have died, because he  _was_  ordinary in a way. Sherlock was reckless and suicidal, but John saved him, by giving him something to live for, and by shooting the cabbie before Sherlock could take the poison pill. Sherlock is ordinary, and dead, without John.

What happens next: John and Sherlock solve some cases in record speed (TBB) and mess things up for Moriarty’s clients. Moriarty doesn’t like this because Sherlock could expose Jim and ruin his fun. So Jim concocts a dramatic game for the purpose of demonstrating his power and willingness to kill people, before threatening to essentially kill them both,  _if they don’t stop prying_. They’re interrupted by a phone call, no one dies, and Jim leaves with a promise to finish this another day. Over the next few months, in the very same episode (ASiB) Sherlock and John become celebrities. We’re shown that their stardom is a direct result of John’s blog, not Sherlock’s abilities or crime-solving success, but of John romanticizing their lives in his blog, and the public latching on to the Sherlock they know of from John’s perspective, the Sherlock that John made. 

In summary… Sherlock was ordinary. Sherlock was suicidal. John saved him, made him better at his job, then made him famous. 

The point I’m trying to make is, before John came along, Sherlock was isolated, ordinary, and Moriarty didn’t pay him any attention. After John made Sherlock stronger and better, Moriarty noticed him. This is what Mycroft was afraid would happen, and it did happen.  

**Then at the pool, Jim threatens Sherlock’s life.**

_“I’m going to kill you anyway someday…I’m saving it up for something special.”_

Reminder: **Sherlock is Mycroft’s pressure point.**

No one was threatening Sherlock before ASiP. No one had noticed him. But now, in  _The Great Game_ , Moriarty is threatening to kill Sherlock if he doesn’t get out of his way.

## Moriarty has just threatened the life of Mycroft’s pressure point.

Therefore, from the pool scene onwards, it’s possible that…

## Mycroft is now under Moriarty’s thumb.

Yes???! 

If it wasn’t for John, none of this would have happened, Sherlock would still be isolated, unknown, and “ordinary”, and Mycroft’s pressure point would still be secret, and safe. Because…

 **Isolated Sherlock** = **safer for Mycroft, at the cost of Sherlock’s happiness.**

and

 **Isolated Sherlock** = **safer for Sherlock, at the cost of his happiness.**

So pre-ASiP, Mycroft would have felt justified to not only  _persuade_  Sherlock of the benefits of being alone, but actively work to  _keep_  Sherlock alone. Because the stakes are high. For Mycroft, the security of a nation is what lies in balance. Once Sherlock was noticed, Mycroft lost his power. Under Moriarty’s thumb, anything could happen to England, it would become Jim’s playground. He could open any door he wanted.

So if Mycroft noticed a new person entering Sherlock’s life, and if he noticed any potential for romance or close friendship, then he would quickly step in and get rid of the person in question. Mycroft gets the job done quickly, [within 24 hours of Sherlock’s involvement with them](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/post/143766653090/pink-lady-foreshadowing). He obviously needs to try and keep his involvement in these matters unnoticed by Sherlock, so he takes them to a remote abandoned warehouse.

Looking at the warehouse meeting between Mycroft and John, what was it trying to show us? The CCTV cameras, being whisked away to a secret location; it’s all very intimidating. We, the viewers, the first time we see it, feel intimidated. We feel scared for John. That’s how we’re supposed to feel. Most of all, John should seem scared and intimidated too. But then something unexpected happens, it surprises us, and dispels our own fear…

John isn’t scared. Or worried. Or even impressed. All the things he is meant to be, he is not. This is what the warehouse meeting was showing us: that Mycroft uses intimidation and fear as a weapon,  _and that John Watson is totally immune to it._

Also in  _His Last Vow_  we’re given an immediate comparison of ordinary people’s reactions to Mycroft, versus John Watson’s reaction to Mycroft:

  


Maybe this is just an opportunity for some hilarious John sass….but maybe it’s a very important comparison. 

Because if Mycroft wants to keep Sherlock alone, and John wants to BE with Sherlock, then that makes Mycroft and John opposing forces on Sherlock’s heart. And if Mycroft and John are opposing forces on Sherlock’s heart, and the show is  _about_  Sherlock’s heart, then technically, that makes Mycroft and John  _rivals_. And John has a defence that can counter Mycroft’s favourite weapon. 

At the warehouse, what happens next? 

MYCROFT: You don’t seem very afraid.  
JOHN: You don’t seem very frightening.  
MYCROFT: Ah, yes. The bravery of the soldier.  **Bravery is by far the kindest word for stupidity, don’t you think?**

Mycroft perceives John’s lack of fear, and calls him stupid for it. Why? Because if John had been frightened off, like he was supposed to be, he wouldn’t have moved in with Sherlock, and caused the problems for Mycroft that I’ve just described. Mycroft calls John stupid, because Mycroft is going to have to take other measures now to get rid of him, measures that will be more dangerous for John. 

Before I go on I’ll just say this…

All I’ve done is taken one fact,  _Sherlock is Mycroft’s pressure point_. Then I made one assumption -  _Mycroft must have been hiding this fact to protect Sherlock, and to protect himself._ Then, I asked ONE question... _ **how did he do it?**  _

The rest of what I've written so far, what follows and results from that, is merely deduction, backed up along the way with evidence in the story and dialogue. You can't make up backstory and call it a theory without LOTS of supporting evidence (Well, you CAN if you want to :)). That's why I'm basically writing a book here. I want to tell you the story I think they're showing us, and prove that it's at least plausible based on what we have to go by.

So when I realized that Mycroft was trying to get rid of John in the warehouse scene, and failed to do so, I also realized Mycroft did not just give up on trying to get rid of John. He just moved to Plan B, then C, and so on. And what I deduced from THAT assumption, is terrifying, and is explained in part 3 of this meta ;)

**And because Mycroft and John are rivals for the hero’s heart, Mycroft and John are the true, or "hidden", protagonist and antagonist of the story.**

And John will turn out to be Mycroft’s  _greatest_  rival, if all goes to plan. Of the two possible outcomes to this "hidden" battle between Mycroft and John, which would you prefer? Isolated-Sherlock? ......Or _Loved-and empowered_ -Sherlock?

Sherlock and John together? ... or apart?

We DO know that one day John will "win", partly because [the subtext in TAB tells us that johnlock becoming canon is Mycroft’s metaphorical death.](http://heimishtheidealhusband.tumblr.com/post/136558389663/thank-you-wilder) Because when John and Sherlock get together, John will have “won” the battle for Sherlock’s heart. _Alone_ won't protect Sherlock anymore...  ** _John will_.**

**[Hello, this is a post-S4 update. I can't help but point out here upon rereading this 2016 meta, that S4 gave us a gorgeous little demonstration of this "hidden battle" between Mycroft and John that I've proposed exists. You might say, _a climactic moment_ (which would fit this supposed *secret premise of the entire show*) since it was at the end of episode 3. In TFP when Sherlock is made to choose between Mycroft and John during Eurus's twisted game, by shooting one of them dead, we are seeing this "battle" near it's conclusion. What we see in the scene, is the role that Sherlock's agency plays in this climactic moment. It's not winner-takes-all, it's _Sherlock's choice_ (a recurring theme that we first see in the "pills" scene in ASiP, and which I've written about [here](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/post/154762125340/sherlocks-choice)). Sherlock does choose, and he chooses John. But he doesn't need to kill Mycroft, because he finds a loophole in Eurus's plan - by turning the gun on himself, he *flips the chessboard* so to speak, and threatens the one person in the room that Eurus wants alive - himself. So we see a choice made when Sherlock points the gun at Mycroft, but we also see him not choosing, and buying himself more time to avoid having to kill his own flesh and blood.]**

So back to the warehouse, when Mycroft offered John money to spy on Sherlock, he had already moved to Plan B after intimidation failed to make an impression. Plan B was recruit this fearless ex-army weapons-trained doctor to his secret service, to work for  _him_.

What did I just say?? What?? This is not quite the accepted reading of that scene. Others have suggested that Mycroft is just testing John’s loyalty and morals before letting Sherlock get close to someone. But even the next time it comes up, in Buckingham palace in ASiB, the dialogue substantiates my reading…

_John: You don’t trust your own secret service?  
Mycroft: Naturally not, they all spy on people for money._

Mycroft just said that his secret service are people who will spy for money, and he was trying to make John one of them in ASiP. 

By suggesting a different reading of Mycroft’s offer of money, all I’m suggesting differently is that Mycroft is concerned and protective of, not JUST Sherlock, but Sherlock AND himself AND England. Quite the portfolio of responsibilities. He has to make hard decisions. As a powerful politician, Mycroft’s  _job_  is to weigh costs versus benefits, to make choices between individual lives and the greater good. He thinks he has no other option than to apply the same logic to his little brother. Mycroft believes he’s doing the right thing in keeping Sherlock isolated. At some point in their past, Mycroft decided this method was the most optimal balance of all possible approaches to the problem, he stuck with it through all these years:  **keep Sherlock isolated.**

But John wasn’t scared off and wasn’t willing to be recruited. John moved into Baker Street, John stayed, John went with Sherlock on cases, John helped Sherlock solve cases better and faster. People started noticing, Moriarty noticed. Mycroft needed to fix this, get things back to how they were before, to how they were for a long long time, back to when things were working just fine and Mycroft was in full control. 

John and Sherlock’s magnetism towards each other in the days and months after they met was a force to be reckoned with. And here’s where things get crazy:

Mycroft’s agenda pre-ASiP: keep Sherlock isolated.  
Mycroft’s updated agenda post-ASiP:  **remove John from Sherlock’s life**. 

To be the one driving the plot, the [Big Bad](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Ftvtropes.org%2Fpmwiki%2Fpmwiki.php%2FMain%2FBigBad&t=ZGZmOTdiZmNhMWNiMDk1YTM0YTk4NjY4ODkxNGY2ZTgxOTcwODZhZixMT2VORWZoMA%3D%3D&b=t%3AifT3Q8QrCR8YgkxriemfHQ&p=http%3A%2F%2Ftjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F148049802948%2Fa-mycroft-theory&m=1) must be trying to take from the hero the one thing the hero wants most. Sherlock wants John. Mycroft is trying to keep John from him (for the unselfish reasons I’ve just explained). Mycroft’s motives were well-intentioned, he simply made one critical error: he underestimated John, and John’s love for Sherlock. 

Love to hear comments, thank you for reading! :-D 

 

*****

Thank you Ariane DeVere for [transcripts](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Farianedevere.livejournal.com%2F&t=YWQ3NDhkZTNiNWE3OGVjZjRjNzU5ZDExMTA4NTNmZDRiZjg4NzI0OSxMT2VORWZoMA%3D%3D&b=t%3AifT3Q8QrCR8YgkxriemfHQ&p=http%3A%2F%2Ftjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F148049802948%2Fa-mycroft-theory&m=1), and major thanks to [@longsnowsmoon5](https://tmblr.co/m-kl_Tum3BZzaBuuAvxRHkQ) for editing :)

 

 

 

[JUL. 28 2016](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/post/148049802948/a-mycroft-theory)

[#META](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/meta) [#SHERLOCK META](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/sherlock-meta) [#MYCROFT](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/mycroft) [#MYCROFT HOLMES](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/mycroft-holmes) [#MYCROFT THEORIES](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/mycroft-theories)[#PRESSURE POINTS](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/pressure-points) [#LEVERAGE](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/leverage) [#BIG BAD](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/big-bad) [#MORIARTY](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/moriarty) [#MAGNUSSEN](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/magnussen) [#CAM](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/cam)

[233 NOTES](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/post/148049802948/a-mycroft-theory)


	2. An Irene Theory

I posted an [Irene thing](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/post/139246308785/the-redbeard-solution-a-crack-theory) in February and finally here is a re-write of that meta. I’ve explained some things better (I hope), and added some new clues to my crackiest of theories… that Irene Adler is Sherlock’s twin sister, the Other One. 

The main evidence…

  1. The plot of ASiB is a  **parallel**  to the Holmes’s past.
  2. The Coventry Conundrum/Bond Air is  **metaphor**  for the Other One’s “death”.



Everything else in my future Long-Game metas will include Irene as the third Holmes sibling (I know, sorry), so that’s why this one is here now.  

I came up with this in the first place, because I had decided that whoever the ‘Other One’ was, they were likely still alive, and likely someone we had already met. Then as soon as I considered Irene, a lot of other things became clear….and, well. I believe. I’ve figured out how it might fit the Holmes’s backstory, how it could be the *thing* that happened to the family; what made Sherlock who he is.

_**“You know what happened to the other one”** _

We’re never told that the ‘Other One’ is dead. We just know that something “happened” to them. Sneaky, classic Moftiss. And I don’t think the eventual reveal of a long-dead sibling is very interesting. Ergo, the Other One is alive. I’m also going from the assumption that there will be no new major characters introduced so late in the story, therefore the Other One is someone we’ve already met.

Mycroft’s line in HLV refers to  _his_  compassion as a brother. You can show brotherly compassion to a sister. The gender of the Other One is not specified. It’s word play that allows us to run with the idea that it’s a brother, while not having been technically told that. And the fact that the word play even exists, and has been so effective in getting people to think of the “third Holmes brother”, basically confirms, for me at least, that it’s a

I also believe that [Redbeard IS, or is closely connected with](http://wellthengameover.tumblr.com/post/98347033687/redbeard-is-the-other-one), the disappearance of the Other One, and that the Other One is a twin; Sherlock’s twin.

I’ll start with my favourite details before moving onto the serious subtext -some of the very subtle, very cool, word-play in ASiB, and how Irene as Sherlock’s sister fixes one absolutely ginormous problem…

 

##  **Irene as Sherlock’s sister solves the problem of the shitty “love” story**

We can find plenty of evidence that Sherlock, a gay man, was  _not_  in love with Irene, but it’s much harder to find evidence that Irene, a gay woman, was not in love with Sherlock. But this theory solves the “love story” problem: SHER was the passcode (key) to Irene’s phone ([heart](http://deducingbbcsherlock.tumblr.com/post/99086765854/inevitably-johnlocked-teaandforeshadowing)), not because she fell in love with him in the few brief times they spoke, but because, as her twin brother,  _Sherlock had been in her heart since the day they were born._

It was not *falling in love* that caused her to lose, but it WAS sentiment. She  _loves_  him, but she wasn’t  _in love_.  

Irene’s photo is in Sherlock’s watch ([heart](http://keagan-ashleigh.tumblr.com/post/132696808156/wellthengameover-jenna221b-waitingforgarridebs)) in TAB for exactly the same reason.  _Irene is in his heart, because she’s his sister_. This is a straightforward explanation for something that bugs the hell out of so many of us.

 

##  **The dialogue: It’s all in the details**

Why, oh WHY, did Mycroft refer to her as  _the one woman who matters_? Why does Mycroft suddenly seem to think his brother is straight, when our first conversation with Mycroft in ASiP involved him just assuming John was Sherlock’s love interest…

_“Might we expect a happy announcement by the end of the week?”_

And teasingly just  _knowing_  they’re into each other, even when Sherlock and John themselves are still oblivious at the beginning of TGG…

_“Business is booming since you two became…pals..”_

Is this just bad, inconsistent writing? Noooope. I don’t think Mycroft  _ever_ really thinks Sherlock might be straight. 

Mycroft’s monologue in the plane at the end of ASiB is more than what it seems. Take nothing at face value; it was put there for the foreshadowing and word play, and at no point is Mycroft  _actually_  confused as to his brother’s sexuality, because Mycroft knows exactly who Irene is. The dialogue is carefully crafted, and you’ll find that Mycroft never says  _ **Irene**_ was Sherlock’s damsel in distress, or that it was  ** _Irene_**  that Sherlock was “showing off for”. It’s all in the details…

MYCROFT: That’s all it takes: one lonely naïve man desperate to show off, and a woman clever enough to make him feel special.

One man desperate to show off, to John, and a woman clever enough to hand him an opportunity to do it.

MYCROFT: The damsel in distress.  _(He smiles ironically.)_ In the end, are you really so obvious? Because this was textbook: the promise of love, the pain of loss, the joy of redemption; then give him a puzzle …  _(his voice drops to a whisper while he twirls the end of his umbrella in the air)_ … and watch him dance. 

Mycroft’s list of “textbook” things, clearly do NOT apply to Sherlock’s barely-there relationship with Irene. So what are they? Like I explained [here](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/post/148116085395/the-promise-of-love-series-1-the-pain-of-loss) recently, it’s a foreshadowing of the johnlock romantic arc, the entire five-act story, which also happens to be a  _textbook_  love story.

We also get confirmation from Magnussen much later that yes, John is Sherlock’s damsel in distress. Mycroft never begins to suspect Sherlock is straight ( _John does though_ ). Because Mycroft knows exactly who she is. 

And why does Mycroft call her  _ **one of a kind**? _It’s a very odd line, and I swear Mark Gatiss mumbles it to try and disguise it’s significance. “One of a kind” means that something or someone is very unique and special. But it doesn’t necessarily refer to only  _one_  thing. In poker, you have three of a kind and four of a kind, which is  _more than one of the same thing_. I think this is word-play that hints at Irene being just one half of a “kind” of thing. 

Why is the closing line of ASiB Sherlock fondly remembering Irene as “ _the_ Woman”? Maybe it’s because to Sherlock, the gayest of gays, his twin sister literally IS the one and only  _woman_  who will ever matter to him as much as John does. To Sherlock, his sister is second best after John, which is why Sherlock put her phone/heart in the pocket of his second best dressing gown. 

And now on to the meaty clues…

##  **The events of ASiB are a parallel to what happened 20 years before**

In the [first part](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/post/148049802948/a-mycroft-theory) of my Long-Game series, I talked loads about how pressure points are critical to the workings of the plot, and why Mycroft’s past and his actions are the driving force behind everything that has happened to Sherlock and John. 

This is why this is a series of metas, and this one is Chapter 2. Irene’s backstory that I’ve concocted builds on everything I wrote about Mycroft and Sherlock’s shared past in the last chapter. But I’ve cut and paste a good chunk of it here, and this should help explain it:

> I think the concept of pressure points can give us a tiny bit of very significant insight into the dynamic between Mycroft and Sherlock. As a reminder, Mycroft…
> 
> …  **ISthe British government, when he’s not too busy being the British Secret Service or the CIA on a freelance basis.**
> 
> In  _His Last Vow_ , we’re told that Sherlock is Mycroft’s pressure point, which makes total sense. He’s his baby brother, he loves him, and would do anything to protect him. Any Mycroft-as-Big-Bad theory needs to account for that fact, and this theory does, because it is based on the idea that his love for Sherlock is at the root of Mycroft’s motives and agenda, but that his love and protection are misplaced.
> 
> If Sherlock had always been Mycroft’s pressure point, then surely Sherlock would have a long history of being abducted, threatened, injured, whatever else, all for use as leverage for Mycroft. Kind of like what we’ve seen John put through; abducted, strapped with a bomb, had a gun to his head, a sniper rifle aimed at him, put in a bonfire, and all of it explicitly as leverage for Sherlock.
> 
> But if this has happened to Sherlock, we haven’t been told or shown. And if Mycroft had given in to the demands of anyone who threatened Sherlock, then how did he get to even BE the most powerful man in England? To keep Sherlock safe, Mycroft would have had to hand over his power on many occasions. And if he didn’t submit to demands, then Sherlock probably wouldn’t have been around for long. But what we’re shown of Mycroft’s position and success tells us the opposite. It tells us that Mycroft is, and has been, untouchable. That somehow, Mycroft has succeeded in preventing Sherlock from being used as leverage. It’s the only way Mycroft would have been able to rise to his current level of power, and it’s the only way he would be able to keep that power. Somehow, Mycroft must have had NO pressure points.
> 
> But WE know that Mycroft  _does_  love and cherish Sherlock. We’re shown, and we’re told. Sherlock IS his critical pressure point, the person he cherishes more than anyone, but…maybe Mycroft managed to convince the world otherwise. Convince them that he  _doesn’t_  hold him dear, that he  _wouldn’t_  rescue him, that there would be no use in using Sherlock for leverage.
> 
> Lady Smallwood in  _His Last Vow_  is a mirror for Mycroft,  **as an example of what happens to those at the top level of power.**  To tell us she’s Mycroft’s mirror, she wears only black and white for the entire episode, which are [Mycroft’s colours](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/post/144943918140/colours-in-sherlock). I think her story is in the show to give us very important insights into Mycroft. Because what happens to her? Her husband, a loved one and her pressure point, is threatened.

> Magnussen has her husband’s letters that suggest he was having a sexual relationship with an underage girl. Lady Smallwood is adamant that her husband is innocent. But as Magnussen tells us later, truth doesn’t matter in news. He just needs to print it, not prove it.
> 
> The next thing we learn about Lady Smallwood towards the end of  _His Last Vow_ , is that her husband committed suicide:

> Sherlock was on the case, but Sherlock was shot and never was able to help her in the end. In the meantime, before Magnussen was shot, Lady Smallwood apparently did not submit to the demands made of her, so her husband’s scandalous history was exposed, and he took his own life. This is what happens to people at the top level of power:  **Their loved ones die.**
> 
> I think they showed us Lady Smallwood’s loved one being threatened, and then dying, because that’s what happened to Mycroft long ago. Because Mycroft supposedly  ** _had_  another loved one, one who is possibly dead.** And we’re even told in the dialogue that a  _lack_  of “brotherly compassion” is  _specifically_  what lead to the demise of the Other One.

> I think we’re told with this Lady Smallwood mirror  _exactly_ what happened to the Other One.  **What happened was _Mycroft’s lack of brotherly compassion_**. The Other One was threatened as leverage, Mycroft  _didn’t_ submit to the demands made of him, and the Other One “died”. 
> 
> Mycroft was only able to keep his position and power because he didn’t give in to his manipulator. And Lady Smallwood as a mirror backs this up: She didn’t give in to her manipulator, her husband’s secrets were exposed, and he died. And then what happens after her husband’s death? This…

> She’s back at work, still doing her thing, and she has not lost her position or power. In fact, there’s an odd line of dialogue that might be a clue to the power that comes when you have NO pressure points…

> …did Mycroft just…ask for someone else’s approval for a decision? Why yes. Because he’s not the most powerful person in England anymore. Lady Smallwood is, because she has NO pressure point, and at this point in the story, Mycroft  _does_.
> 
> Mycroft scoffs openly that he would act compassionately toward a sibling, grabbing at the opportunity to remind his colleagues that he lets his siblings die rather than give away his power or secrets. Whether or not this is what actually did happen to the other one, Mycroft can use the  _suspicion_ of this to convince everyone that he IS callous, when in fact he is anything but. 

So…pressure points, manipulation, power, influence, politics, war; it’s a game of chess. I believe that Mycroft’s powerful and influential position in the government is the driving force behind the plot, because it meant that he would always be a target for manipulation and blackmail, and that his loved ones would always be used as leverage. The unfortunate side-effects of being Mycroft’s brother are the cause of the pain that Sherlock and John have been put through. It’s the Mycroft show, and as unwitting pawns in a larger game, Sherlock and John’s romance is a spin-off.

Now I’ll get on with it: The following is what I think happened with Irene, why she was estranged from her family, and why Sherlock in ASiB doesn’t know who she is. 

When Mycroft was in his early 20s, quickly rising up through the ranks of power and influence, he was targeted for the first time by someone who wanted to use his influence and power for their own means. Whoever this was, targeted Mycroft’s 15 year old sister as leverage. 

I’m just going to call her Irene, even though that was obviously not her childhood name. 

Irene’s life was threatened, and for the first time ever, Mycroft was put in a position where he needed to make a choice; his sister, or his work. And since Mycroft’s work is “basically the British government”, I’m going to assume that even in his early 20s, Mycroft was involved in something big, and a lot of lives were at stake. 

If Mycroft wanted to save his sister, he needed to hand over power, and possibly sacrifice the lives of many. This was something Mycroft was NOT willing to do, but the conundrum was, that he also did NOT want to sacrifice his sister’s life. Because we can be fairly certain that Mycroft’s “caring is not an advantage” attitude is just a facade, and that he cares for his loved ones as much as anyone, if not more. Because as Moffat has said before, someone who chooses to repress love, probably needs to do so precisely because they have a greater than average capacity for love in the first place. 

As a man who will not accept defeat easily, and who has a brain the size of a planet, Mycroft resolved that he was clever enough to come up with a scheme which would let him keep both his work, and his sister. He wanted to have his cake and eat it too. He was made to make a choice, but Mycroft chose not to choose. 

To escape her killers, Mycroft helped his little sister fake her death. After the deed was done, Mycroft snuck Irene out of the country where he got her a new life and identity in America.

This all sounds familiar, doesn’t it? That’s because I believe that Irene’s faked death in ASiB is a parallel to what happened 20 years before. And this is why, 20 years later, Mycroft stuck with what he knew, and hatched a similar plan to save his brother when  _his_  life was threatened in TRF. 

How would 15 year old Sherlock have reacted to his big brother’s scheme to send his twin sister away to America, where Sherlock could have no contact with her, all for the sake of Mycroft’s “work”? 

This is where shit gets very real, because while Mycroft was congratulating himself for saving both his sister and his position and work with the Government, he now had a Sherlock-sized problem. Sherlock did not agree with Mycroft’s plans for Irene. Sherlock thought Mycroft should sacrifice his work rather than his own sister. Mycroft refused to alter his plan, so Sherlock threatened to interfere, to follow Irene, to go with her to protect her. 

JOHN (at Battersea):  _Tell him you’re alive._

JOHN:  _Tell him you’re alive_.

These lines are totally incomprehensible in context; because Sherlock says later “You told John you were alive and therefore me”. So why does she say  _twice_  that Sherlock  _can’t know_?? Stumped? Me too. It doesn’t make sense in context, because it’s part of another story being told; a parallel to the past. 

In the context of Irene’s past, it does make sense. Sherlock  _had_  to be kept in the dark 20 years before,  _because he would have gone after her._ His love for her and need to protect her, could have gotten them both killed. She couldn’t tell him.

Twins have a unique and intense bond, and the threat of separation is enough to cause severe trauma and pain of loss. As someone who already struggled socially, Sherlock didn’t want to lose the one person in the world who understood him, who defended him, who accepted him no matter what. 

Sherlock was not going to let Mycroft take his sister away. At 15, Sherlock couldn’t understand the political clusterfuck that Mycroft’s work had already become, and why Mycroft was so insistent that this was the only way. This caused an irreparable rift between the brothers, and Sherlock could not be subdued or convinced to go along with the plan. Mycroft didn’t want to send his brother with Irene, because he believed in Sherlock using his “utility” and brains to work for the country.

So Mycroft, who weighed all options and felt that he had no other choice, “fixed” this Sherlock problem by altering his memories using hypnosis, or an experimental or highly unethical technique, one which he had access to because of his position. He justified this to himself by considering his actions as being for the greater good, but Mycroft fails to understand that it’s not cool to apply this same logic to your family members. 

We know that he’s able to “extract” things from people…

_You have a passcode to open this. I deeply regret to say we have people who can **extract**  it from you. _

And while that particular line in context refers to torture, I think the word-play is significant, and that Mycroft had his people “extract data” from Sherlock’s hard drive / brain; the memory of his sister. Sherlock then masked the trauma with an invented memory…

 

_You couldn’t cope. You were just a child, so you rationalised it into something very different._

Redbeard is to Sherlock what the Hound was to Henry knight, a memory of a dog that filled the place of a person.

When Sherlock, in his MP says to the Irish Setter version of Redbeard…

_They’re putting me down too_

…Sherlock’s sister was “put down”; she was a problem so she was gotten rid of. She was officially deceased and even the memory of her was erased. 

So what happened next for 15 year old Irene, after Mycroft got her a new identity in America?

MYCROFT:  _She will survive and thrive, but he will never see her again._

 **She survived, and she thrived. And he never saw her again.**  

Irene finally returned to London as an adult, drawn back to her home, knowing that she had the skills and experience now to survive anything that was thrown at her. 

We know from this deleted scene… (from [this meta](http://mid0nz.tumblr.com/post/135148186629/why-steven-moffat-won-an-emmy-for-his-last-vow))

…that she was born in America,  _but you wouldn’t know it from her accent._ This is huge.It tells us that she was British  _before_ she was American, but because her new identity would have shown her to be born in America, no one knows that she really is British, but it’s a bit of a give-away that her British accent is so  _perfect_.

Once she returned home, Irene knew that if her true identity as a Holmes were discovered, then the killers who threatened her 20 years before would be after her again. And if not them, then anyone else could threaten her again as leverage for Mycroft, then she would be back where she started. So she built her entire life and career around acquiring protection should she ever happen to need it. She ties people up then steals their secrets; they tell her things they shouldn’t, or she reads their emails while they’re occupied. 

A very important detail is that Irene collects this stuff  **for protection** ,  **not** for blackmail. We’re told  _over and over_ :

MYCROFT: She got in touch, she informed us that the photographs existed, she indicated that  **she had no intention to use them**  to extort either money or favour.

IRENE: Tell that sweet little posh thing that the photos are safe with me,  **not for blackmail, just for protection**.

SHERLOCK: The photographs are perfectly safe.  
MYCROFT: In the hands of a fugitive sex worker.  
SHERLOCK:  **She’s not interested in blackmail**. She wants …  **protection** for some reason.

SHERLOCK:  **For blackmail?**    
IRENE:  **For protection.**  I make my way in the world, I misbehave. I like to know people will be on my side exactly when I need them to be. 

She’s not a blackmailer, and she resents that term, because she is only trying to survive another day. She probably did a similar thing back in America.  **Protecting herself had become her whole life.**

There’s someone else in this show who collects scandals, photos, information, and who also resents the term blackmail.

MAGNUSSEN: No? Because now there are consequences. I have the letters and therefore I have you.  
LADY SMALLWOOD:  **This is blackmail.**  
MAGNUSSEN:  **Of course it isn’t blackmail. This is … ownership.**

Magnussen collects things that might one day come in handy, but doesn’t collect those things specifically for blackmail. He  _will_  use the information for blackmail, but  _only if he needs to_ , just like Irene. He collects information, then also collects  _people_  to be used as leverage. He lets those people know that he owns them, because he has the information he needs to influence them if the need arises.

Another big thing that mirrors the two of them is that when Irene says…

**_“I know what he likes…”_ **

…she’s saying that she knows  _who_  people like, she knows their  **pressure points** , and uses them to manipulate people.

While on the surface level this is about sex, the other layer is about  **leverage**. Irene is a player in the game, she uses people’s pressure points to manipulate them, and she plays the game only to  **survive** _; she has no other motive._

The writers gave Irene her particular profession, a Dominatrix, because of the symbolism, not because they thought it was a swell idea to make her an actual sex worker. And what it tells us is that Irene is a… Dominat _ **or**_ , a leader, a controller, an executive. Like Magnussen, she owns a lot of assets, and the power she possesses also mirrors her with Mycroft (thanks to [@longsnowsmoon5](https://tmblr.co/m-kl_Tum3BZzaBuuAvxRHkQ) for [that idea](https://longsnowsmoon5.tumblr.com/post/140911533071/control-is-a-holmes-family-trait)). We see another reference to Irene’s power, when John meets her at a  **power**  station. John is expecting to see Mycroft, but Irene appears in his place. 

When Irene called Moriarty with impeccable timing in the pool scene in the opening seconds of ASiB, she did in fact just save Sherlock’s life. This is basically textual, but it’s never talked about. Why would she save the life of someone she didn’t know? When Irene called Jim, she was with a client and needed to excuse herself to make the call, which makes it even less likely that she called at that exact moment just by chance. Sherlock had his gun aimed at the bomb on the ground, Moriarty had his snipers on Sherlock and John, it was a stand-off, a check mate, and it would have ended badly. 

I’m going to leave out all of the pool scene part of my theory, because that’s going to take a whole separate chapter (the next one, coming soon, lol). So for now I’ll just say this: What Irene offered Moriarty on the phone to get him to walk out of there and leave Sherlock unharmed, was something remarkable, and I swear you might actually like her afterwards.

When Irene saved Sherlock and John’s lives at the pool, I believe it was an impulsive decision for her to call Moriarty at that moment. She had been watching her brother, but only intervened when it looked like he was about to be killed. So regardless of  _what_  she offered him, Irene has just made a deal with Moriarty. Irene now tries to get from this situation what  _she_  wants, or  _needs_. And  _Irene needs protection_. 

So she puts in place a clever plan to enlist Mycroft’s help, then double-cross him, utilizing Sherlock’s brains and also his weakness; wanting to be clever for John. Meanwhile, she will work with Moriarty and stay in his good books, because you can’t double-cross the Napoleon of crime as easily. Her plot is to secure protection for herself by taking it from Mycroft, as revenge for the decision he took it upon himself to make 20 years before, when he forced her to leave her family, her friends and her home, and become a fugitive. And as a bonus side effect of the shit storm she has planned, she’ll get to see and talk to her twin again.

Irene tells Kate she needs a bit of time to get ready…

KATE: A  _long_  time?   
IRENE: Mmm,  _ages_. 

Not as in  _3 hours to get ready_ , but  _20 years_. There might just be a teensy bit of word-play going on here, and that always makes me tingle.

When Irene first walks into the room naked and Sherlock sees her, I want to break down Sherlock’s reaction for you, and show you that it wasn’t her nakedness, but her face, that elicited Sherlock’s reaction. Irene enters the room: note the little brow crease of recognition as Sherlock meets her eyes…

  THAT’s when this happens ….

It wasn’t her nakedness that shocked him ( _sex doesn’t alarm me_ ), it was the features of her face that tripped a wire deep in his repressed memories, but the sensation passes and he writes it off as nothing, because he doesn’t know this woman. But then he has trouble deducing her…

…which might be explained by the ‘virus in the data’ blocking the memory of her. 

Moving on to when Irene inexplicably fakes her death. This plays no obvious role in the plot, other than to demonstrate Sherlock’s reaction to both her death, and her resurrection, and we never even find out WHY she did it. The only two lines that deal with  _why_  Irene faked her death are…

_“I needed to disappear”_

and…

SHERLOCK: So who is after you?  
IRENE: People who want to kill me.   
SHERLOCK: Who is that?   
IRENE: Killers? 

…and with that she changes the subject. 

Earlier, Sherlock sees Irene’s phone on his mantelpiece and immediately deduces that she’s dead. Sherlock closes the door in John’s face, then off he goes to the morgue to identify a body that matches her description, which in itself is a curious thing, because wouldn’t Kate be the one doing that? Why then, the man who she spent less than an hour with 3 months ago? 

Well, because Sherlock and Mycroft  _are_  her  _family._ And we get a nice mirror a few moments later of  _another family_  on the other side of the glass doors at the end of the corridor, contrasting the crying and hugging on one side with the stoic Holmes brothers on the other. 

_Do you ever wonder if there’s something wrong with us?_

Did you ever wonder why Sherlock compared himself and Mycroft to the  _grieving family_? Why should there even be a comparison? 

Mycroft offers Sherlock a cigarette to test him. On the surface level, we’re made to think that Sherlock will take the cigarette if he was in “love” with her, which it seems he was because he smoked it. 

_Well, you barely knew her._

Mycroft states the obvious; you don’t behave that way over someone you barely knew, so what  _is_  going on then?

Meanwhile, it sets up the idea that smoking for Sherlock AND Mycroft is linked to _**feeling**_ , and at the end of the episode, Mycroft’s cigarette outside of Speedy’s is a very meaningful parallel to the morgue scene (I’ll come back to that soon). The smoking subtext informs us that Sherlock was feeling  _something_. Again, this is  _ **before Battersea**_ , and nothing out of the ordinary has occurred with John at this point.

I believe that Sherlock started remembering something the moment he deduced Irene’s death; this was the trigger.

Sherlock didn’t remember enough to know who she was, but he felt something he couldn’t explain, the same something he felt when he first saw her face, and this “something” confused  _him_  as much as John, hence his brooding and composing and not eating.

We’ve argued that  _“..he does all that anyway”_  proves that his brooding was over John (and the fact that what he’s  _“thinking”_  about, is immediately revealed to be John’s blog).

_**I’d say he was heartbroken. But…he’s Sherlock, he does all that anyway-** _

John’s seen him do all that before. But reminder: Sherlock was distinctly HAPPY at the start of ASiB. We’re given an entire first half hour of the happy couple, an intentional contrast to the conflict that Irene’s presence introduces. This isn’t about het-love, but it’s  _not just about John_. Because again, they were happy at the beginning, and Sherlock’s brooding begins  _before Battersea_. 

_**“I’d say he was heartbroken”** _

**Heart.**

**Broken**. 

 _He’s done this before._  I don’t think this line is about John at all. I think “he does all that anyway” because he had his heart broken 20 years before, it’s the crack in the lens, the reason he buried his emotions and isolated himself. He does all that anyway, because he’s still keeping John at a distance, because he’s always kept people at a distance, because his heart was broken a long time ago.

Irene’s death triggered Sherlock to act heartbroken, even though they barely knew each other. I think we’re being shown a parallel to the past. This is the thing that  _broke Sherlock’s heart,_ and made him reject the notion of love. That’s why in this very same episode, we go from a happy couple at the start, to a moment in which Sherlock metaphorically takes his heart back from John after being reminded by Irene that love is a fatal weakness. ([gif](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/post/149869290010/deducingbbcsherlock-inevitably-johnlocked)) So Irene is Redbeard, the thing that broke Sherlock’s heart, and now she herself is what reminds him once more to keep his heart closed.

And Mycroft has told us before, that he would never let his sibling die, because…

Irene’s death broke Sherlock’s heart, and Sherlock’s death would break Mycroft’s. 

Later, Irene is sleeping in Sherlock’s bed, after which she puts on Sherlock’s dressing gown, and sits in Sherlock’s chair. Sherlock on the other hand, sits in the  _client_  chair, mirroring  _him_  with the people who come in with mysteries to solve, or murdered or lost loved ones.

SHERLOCK: So who’s after you?  
IRENE: People who want to kill me.  
SHERLOCK: Who’s that?  
IRENE: Killers.  
JOHN: It would help if you were a tiny bit more specific.  
SHERLOCK: So you faked your own death in order to get ahead of them.  
IRENE: It worked for a while. 

This is Irene’s story of why she faked her death when she was 15. Somebody wanted to kill her, so she faked her death to get ahead of them. It actually worked for 20 years, because it was within the time frame of ASiB that Irene’s killers from 20 years before learned who she was (I explain this in the next chapter), which lead her to double-cross Mycroft to source the money and leverage she needed to hide herself again, which is why ASiB ends with Irene having got herself into a witness protection program in America, with another new identity. She’s now safe once more from these “killers”, whoever they are. 

So when I say “the events of ASiB parallel Irene’s story”, this is what I mean. When she was 15…

  * There were people after her, people who wanted to kill her.
  * So she faked her death to get ahead of them
  * Then she got herself into a witness protection program in America, with a new name and identity, where she was safe and hidden. 
  * She survived and thrived, but Sherlock never saw her again.



****

##  ****The Coventry Conundrum is a metaphor for the Other One’s “death”** **

_“In the Second World War, the Allies knew that Coventry was going to get bombed because they’d broken the German code but they didn’t want the Germans to know that they’d broken the code, so they let it happen anyway.”_

Yes, this is a [true story](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fnews%2Fuk-11486219&t=NWQ0NDgyY2NjNzZhOTg5NzMyYzVhMTE5OGEwMzU5MDY5YzVkYmI2NyxZU0pVT3VDeg%3D%3D&b=t%3AifT3Q8QrCR8YgkxriemfHQ&p=http%3A%2F%2Ftjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F149903026650%2Fan-irene-theory&m=1); Coventry was bombed and there remains a (pretty convincing) conspiracy theory that the prime minister knew it was going to happen, but sacrificed those lives for “the greater good”, to keep it secret that they had cracked the German’s code.

Sherlock has an epiphany at the last minute, and figures out what Mycroft has planned; that is, the connection between Bond Air and Coventry… then he gives us the solution on the way to the plane:

_“There’s going to be a bomb on a passenger jet. The British and American governments know about it but rather than expose the source of that information they’re going to let it happen. The plane will blow up. Coventry all over again. The wheel turns. Nothing is ever new.”_

**Mycroft got the idea for Bond Air by copying something similar from long ago; _Coventry_.**

**Bond Air is a metaphor for a faked death.**  Just take Sherlock’s faked death in TRF as an example: 

Moriarty wanted Sherlock dead, so Mycroft “let it happen”, but helped Sherlock fake it, so that Moriarty got what he wanted (Sherlock dead) while Sherlock didn’t actually need to die. 

The terrorists wanted a plane full of people dead, so Mycroft let them have it, but faked it, so that no one actually died. 

Mycroft calls it “The flight of the dead”. He means “flight” as in “flee”. The ‘dead’  _flee_.

So  **Bond Air**  is a metaphor for a faked death, and the idea came from a similar project many years ago;  **Coventry**. 

 **Bond Air**  = Sherlock’s faked death in TRF  
**Coventry**  = Irene’s faked death 20 years before

Obviously Sherlock is Bond, so this fits. But when Sherlock wakes up from his mind palace, he says “Coventry!” right to Irene, and she looks up…

**_Irene is Coventry._  **

_The Coventry conundrum. What do you think of my solution? Neat, don’t you think?_

Mycroft refers to Bond Air as the “Coventry Conundrum”. So I’m considering this plane full of dead bodies as metaphor for both Irene and Sherlock’s faked deaths at once. Yes, it’s called **Bond** Air, and it’s foreshadowing of Sherlock’s faked death at the end of the series, but it’s  **simultaneously**  a metaphor for Irene’s faked death from two decades ago.

This is Mycroft’s work; it was  _his_  conundrum, and  _his_  solution. And he thinks it was “neat”, as in,  _tidy_. When his sister’s life was threatened, he faked her death; mission accomplished for the enemy, and no one died. For Mycroft, it was a success. 

So why then, was it a  _failure_? The project was cancelled, so what does this mean for our metaphor? The enemy found out the plane was full of dead bodies. They found out that the deaths of those people were faked. 

**It means that Irene’s enemies have discovered that she faked her death 20 years before, and that she’s still alive.**

**Whoever wanted her dead when she was 15, have found her again.** It’s why she organised this entire scheme; trick Mycroft, use Sherlock’s brains, get the money and protection she needs

_“This entire project is cancelled. The terrorist cells have been informed that we know about the bomb. We can’t fool them now. We’ve lost everything. One fragment of one email, and months and years of planning finished.”_

How would Mycroft react to the news, that the ‘project’ that exiled his sister, traumatized his brother, and tore his family apart, was all for nothing? Irene’s enemies had found her. Years of planning, finished. He might feel a bit like this:

The subtext of this scene is Mycroft’s failure to protect his family, that despite his best efforts, it was all for nothing. There’s no obvious way to account for the subtext of this, unless you know what the Coventry Conundrum represents, and therefore what the failure of that “project” meant to Mycroft. And  _everything_  has a subtext.

And the MUSIC in this scene is a BIG clue. It’s a unique bit of score that we hear only three times (during the hiker-and-the-backfire case, then again as Sherlock shatters the champagne glass in TSoT), and all three times there is a very specific subtextual story going on, and it’s about  _heartbreak_. LSiT called it [“extreme heartbreak music”](http://tendergingergirl.tumblr.com/post/148844622406/the-hiker-and-the-backfire-deduction-asib), which is why we hear it as Mycroft succumbs to his emotions over  _breaking Sherlock’s heart_ 20 years ago, and it amounted to nothing in the end.

And Moriarty breaks the news to Mycroft via text…

Dear me Mr Gatiss, dear me. 

**Dear Me: A Letter to My Sixteen-Year Old Self** (published 2009), with a contribution by Mark Gatiss ([you can read it here](http://enigmaticpenguinofdeath.tumblr.com/post/66557800620/the-full-text-of-mark-gatisss-letter-to-his-16)).

We know that Mycroft is often the “voice” of Mark Gatiss in the show, and he often jokingly considers himself and Mycroft one and the same person in interviews and comments.

**Moriarty’s text is an intentional reference to the idea of writing a letter to your younger self, with advice and wisdom that you’ve gained as an adult.**

Because it’s at the very moment that Mycroft reads these words ( _Dear me, Mr Holmes_ ), that perhaps he wishes more than anything else in the world to be able to go back to when he was young and stupid, and make a better choice for his family. 

Mycroft’s emotional collapse in ASiB isn’t about a project gone wrong, it’s significance is Mycroft’s realization that he sacrificed his family for his work all those years ago, and it was all for nothing. It’s his realization that he made the wrong choice. Because as Mrs Hudson tells him earlier in the episode, “ _family is all we have in the end, Mycroft Holmes”._ A line which  _clearly_  hit a nerve with Mycroft.

When the three of them sit down together in Mycroft’s home, the setting for this meeting is strangely casual and intimate. Why aren’t they in Mycroft’s office? Irene sits on the table like it’s her own. The cinematography also tells us a lot. Of the three of them, Sherlock is the one who is “in the dark”. Mycroft and Irene are at the table, making a deal with each other, while Sherlock sits at a distance facing away from them, out of focus, not knowing what they’re talking about, not “in on it”. 

When Irene appears to have won, Mycroft slumps back in his chair defeated. When we’ve seen Mycroft dealing with colleagues before, we’ve never seen him act so casually. It’s as if his guard is down, because there is no pretense between these two. 

The three of them also wear matching outfits; they all wear black or shades of grey, with a [splash of red](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/post/145364546570/time-to-add-a-splash-of-colour). Sherlock’s red buttonhole, Irene’s red-soled heels, and Mycroft’s red pocket handkerchief. 

Mycroft concedes defeat, and seems on some level impressed and satisfied with Irene’s work, and that really, he expected nothing less from her. She is a Holmes after all. 

 

##  **After ASiB, Mycroft thinks his sister is dead.**

Mycroft offers Sherlock a cigarette in the morgue to test whether or not Sherlock would react to Irene’s death with emotion; whether or not he was  _feeling_. And now here at the end, we have Mycroft outside of Speedy’s doing exactly that. Smoking;  _feeling_. Sherlock smoked when he thought Irene was dead, and now Mycroft is smoking  _because he thinks Irene is dead_ ([nice one](https://longsnowsmoon5.tumblr.com/post/147630829581/irenes-dead-time-for-a-smoke) [@longsnowsmoon5](https://tmblr.co/m-kl_Tum3BZzaBuuAvxRHkQ) ).

_It would take Sherlock Holmes to fool me, and I don’t think he was on hand, do you?_

**Sherlock _was_  on hand = Mycroft  _was_ fooled.**

It was Sherlock who helped Irene get to America and get herself safe. I’m not implying that Irene needed a man to do that for her, I’m just pointing out the parallel; 20 years ago Mycroft helped her hide without Sherlock’s knowledge, now it was Sherlock who helped her hide without  _Mycroft’s_ knowledge (that was how she “swung it”).

So it seems like Mycroft AND John both think she is dead, while Sherlock knows vaguely where she is.

 

##  **TAB was priming us for Irene’s return**

It was Irene who said it in ASiB…

…which refers to the way Irene’s character, always used as a love interest, is now something that requires you to  _think_.

We don’t hear it again after that. And low and behold, here it is again in TAB. Just……. look at this.

**SHERLOCK (in ASiB): The wheel turns, _nothing_  is ever new. **

  
  
  
  


The last line comes out of  _Sherlock’s_  mouth. It’s on the tip of  _his_  tongue. What is this even about? Moriarty is trying to get Sherlock to  _remember_. But what has Sherlock  _ **forgotten**_? Moriarty’s death on Bart’s is the most obvious “thing” that Emilia Ricoletti’s death should be “reminding” Sherlock of. But it’s not that. He hasn’t  _forgotten_  that. Something is  _right there_  in Sherlock’s head, but he can’t access it.

_**on the tip of one’s tongue:** used to indicate that someone is almost but not quite able to bring a particular word or name to mind. _

When something is on the tip of your tongue, it’s like it’s in your head, but you can’t access it. Somehow, you know it, but you can’t say it. It feels as if there’s something blocking the thought from rising up into your consciousness.

And then, immediately, we’re told what it is:

Because Irene, the buried memory that Sherlock is searching his mind for, has been  **officially**   **dead**  for two decades. 

So Sherlock searches the grave of a  _ **beloved sister.**_

  


_**“Find the Woman”,**_ Mycroft says. ([find the dog, find the woman](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/post/138520032070/find-the-woman-find-the-dog))

But alas, _the cupboard is bare_.

The Other One isn’t there,  _because they didn’t die_. 

The two people buried in the grave 120 years ago were  _identical_ …like twins…

When the corpse rises up whispering  _“do not forget me”_  and lands on Sherlock inside the grave, there’s once again two bodies in the grave - a man and a woman.

 

##  **Why I think the Other One/Irene was 15 when she disappeared…**

**1\. Mirrors in _The Blind Banker_  **

Soo Lin and Zhi Zhu could mirror a brother and a sister; twins _?_ We get an allusion to the idea of Sherlock (Soo Lin’s mirror) behaving in an  _identical way_  to Zhi Zhu:

_“Someone else has been here. Somebody else broke into the flat and knocked over the vase, just like I did.”_

..and then we get this shot of Sherlock holding the photo of the siblings, conceivably even the same age, the  _girl_  smeared with fingerprints, holding it just as Zhi Zhu had moments before, cherishing the memory of the sister he’s searching for.

**2\. Henry Knight’s loss of his father parallels Sherlock’s loss of his sister.**

JOHN: Henry, whatever did happen to your father,  **it was twenty years ago**.

Twenty years before ASiB,  _Sherlock would have been roughly 15_. 

**3. There’s an Irene mirror in Lady Smallwood’s story**

MAGNUSSEN: In 1982 your husband corresponded with Helen Catherine Driscoll.  
LADY SMALLWOOD: That was before I knew him.  
MAGNUSSEN: The letters were lively, loving – some would say explicit – and currently in my possession.  
LADY SMALLWOOD: Will you please move your hand?  
MAGNUSSEN  _(narrating part of one of the letters)_ : “I long, my darling, to know the touch of your … _(he pauses briefly, then continues)_ … body.”  
LADY SMALLWOOD: I know what was in the letters.  
MAGNUSSEN:  **She was fifteen.**  
LADY SMALLWOOD: She looked older.

Another 15 year old, like in  _The Blind Banker_ …hmm, interesting. What is so significant about the age 15? Also, she was beautiful, and had curly dark brown hair…

MAGNUSSEN: Oh, she looked  _delicious_. We have photographs, too – the ones she sent him. ( _He smacks his lips.)_ Yum yum.

 _Photographs_. Hmmm.

Pretending to be older than she was, sending photographs of herself to, and seducing, a married man?? Sounds like Helen Catherine Driscoll liked to  _misbehave_. I think she’s an Irene mirror. There’s also the connection that I already made, where Lady Smallwood’s story mirrors Mycroft’s past, and the disappearance of the Other One. 

The photograph of Irene in Sherlock’s watch/heart in TAB is also in a sepia filter, like the photo above, in which she’s wearing a white top, like Helen Catherine, and her body is oriented to the camera in a similar way.

 

**4\. On “That Day” , Sherlock could have been around 15 years old.**

 

MYCROFT  _(his face turned away)_ : We have an agreement, my brother and I, ever since that day.

This could conceivably be Sherlock at around age 15 (Mycroft 22 or so), turning to drugs after his memories were stolen and a giant gaping hole was left in his heart. Because from Mycroft’s words, we assume “that day” is something as straightforward as the first time Sherlock overdosed. Which could be true. But it could have been one and the same “day”, as the day Irene left, and Sherlock’s memories were “extracted”. Mycroft is often the one who plants the idea of Sherlock’s drug problem in the audience’s mind, and in the minds of Sherlock’s friends, even though we never see  _hard_  evidence of Sherlock possessing drugs, or doing drugs. Perhaps Mycroft uses the mere suggestion of Sherlock’s ‘drug problem’ [as a scapegoat](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/post/149891976260/black-watch-tartan) for the true problem (a broken heart). Look at that screen shot: Sherlock is even clutching at his heart.

##  **Possible clue in[Mark Gatiss’s tweet](https://twitter.com/markgatiss/status/553930378227236864)**

Umm…..yeah. Okay.  _Where the fuck do I even start?_

It’s two  ~~babies~~  bears in a crib. One with a blue scarf like Sherlock’s. When do you ever, ever, see two  ~~bears~~  babies in a crib together?  _When they’re twins!!_  

And then there’s this.

**Sister!**

Then there’s what happened after he tweeted it. He tweeted it twice more! Three timestotal. It was not a mistake, it was a clue. Maybe because Irene returns in episode three? Because that would also fit with the revelation that Sherrinford is our official clue word for episode  **3**.

**A few last notes…**

Most of the comments on my first meta were from folks who couldn’t reconcile the level of sexual innuendo with Sherlock and Irene turning out to be actual siblings. So I’ll just remind you first that they did not sleep together (obviously, but I need to say it I guess - yes, despite Ben C’s comment), they never kissed on the lips, so I don’t personally think there’s any need to consider anything incest (unless you ship badlock and have imagined these scenarios in your head, but I haven’t, so I’m safe). Yes, she paraded nude, yes she seemingly came on to him. But…

1) Much of the “flirting” from Irene can be reinterpreted as sisterly affection and adoration. Rewatch it with this in mind, and you’ll see what I mean. When she says  _“Have you ever had anyone?”_ , notice how her expression is initially one of intense concern and sadness, not lust.

2) The writers needed to walk a fine line, just like all the other times they do, by giving the casual audience enough bait in order to run with the idea of romance because of their heterexpectations, yet show nothing that couldn’t be reinterpreted later as familial affection.

3) About the “I would have you right here until you beg for mercy” scene: @withthekeyisking kindly pointed out that Mercy is a kid’s game where you twist the other’s arm behind their back until they scream “mercy”. As it happens, exactly what Sherlock does to Mycroft in HLV (“ _don’t appall me when I’m high”_ )

A couple more things:

1) Mycroft’s Speedy’s conversation with John, a conversation  _about Irene_ , is the one and only time pirates are mentioned. And if it’s anything at all, Redbeard sure as hell sounds like a pirate name. 

2) When Sherlock is trying to figure out the key code to her safe, he tells Irene she was clearly born in the eighties. A few people pointed out that this means they can’t be twins, but it was Sherlock’s  _guess_ at her birth date, not a fact, and we know how his judgement can be a bit off where it concerns women, and Irene’s reaction…

…suggests he got it wrong, and that perhaps she’s not quite that young, because if she was born on Sherlock’s birthday (Jan 6th 1977), then she would be only three years older than he assumed.

Also, why even mention her birthdate? Not to mention, this conversation happens while she’s wearing her [birthday suit](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dictionary.com%2Fbrowse%2Fbirthday-suit&t=MmRkZWM4ZTI1YTIxMTNhNGIyOWZjMTcyN2U2OTRlYWI1NWQzZDBkZCxZU0pVT3VDeg%3D%3D&b=t%3AifT3Q8QrCR8YgkxriemfHQ&p=http%3A%2F%2Ftjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F149903026650%2Fan-irene-theory&m=1), just as Sherlock wears his birthday suit a few minutes earlier. Both naked as the day they were born. 

Aaannnd I’m done! Thank you for reading!! xx

Continue to  **[Part 3: A Pool Scene Theory](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/post/151676075300/a-pool-scene-theory)**

 

*****

Thank you Ariane DeVere for [transcripts](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Farianedevere.livejournal.com%2F&t=MTMwODcwYzk2MGI5MjE1NDdkZmJkYzNlZDZhNDRiZmE5M2E2YjAzNCxZU0pVT3VDeg%3D%3D&b=t%3AifT3Q8QrCR8YgkxriemfHQ&p=http%3A%2F%2Ftjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F149903026650%2Fan-irene-theory&m=1), thank you [@longsnowsmoon5](https://tmblr.co/m-kl_Tum3BZzaBuuAvxRHkQ)for jumping on this crazy train right from the start and for your ideas and help and loveliness. Thank you to those who read and wrote positive comments on my original Irene meta back in Feb, love you thank you xox

[SEP. 4 2016](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/post/149903026650/an-irene-theory)

[#SHERLOCK META](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/sherlock-meta) [#THE OTHER ONE](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/the-other-one) [#THIRD HOLMES SIBLING](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/third-holmes-sibling) [#REDBEARD](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/redbeard) [#IRENE ADLER](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/irene-adler)[#IRENE ADLER IS THE OTHER ONE](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/irene-adler-is-the-other-one) [#TWINS](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/twins) [#S4 SPECULATION](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/s4-speculation) [#SORRY](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/SORRY) [#TRULY I AM](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/TRULY-I-AM)

[57 NOTES](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/post/149903026650/an-irene-theory)


	3. A Pool Scene Theory

This is Part 3 of a [series](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/meta), and builds on my Mycroft and Irene theories…

[Part 1: A Mycroft Theory](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/post/148049802948/a-mycroft-theory)   
[Part 2: An Irene Theory](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/post/149903026650/an-irene-theory)

Read my pool scene theory under the cut…

I’d recommend reading Parts 1 and 2 first. I couldn’t tell my pool scene story until I’d written those because I have pretty specific ideas about Mycroft and Irene which are the basis of my theory-of-everything WiP, including what I think happened at the pool. 

In my Mycroft theory I explained the way in which Mycroft can be the one “behind it all”, without being truly evil or having a complicated agenda. At the root of his actions is love; protect Sherlock, protect the people of England. But Mycroft must consider the greater good, and know when a single life must be sacrificed in order to save many more.

[*discussion of suicide themes ahead, and a  _touch_  of dark!Mycroft*]

In parts one and two I explained that:

  * An ongoing theme in the show is of loved ones being used as leverage to manipulate people.
  * In  _His Last Vow_  we’re given Lady Smallwood’s tragic story; a person of great influence and power, her loved one was threatened then died because she didn’t submit to the demands made by her blackmailer. Lady Smallwood is a warning; she is an obvious mirror for Mycroft, and therefore her loved one mirrors Sherlock. It shows us what could happen to Sherlock if Mycroft is targeted by blackmailers.
  * But Mycroft already knows what is at stake. His little sister (Irene Adler) was threatened 20 years ago, and extreme measures were needed to fix the situation; in the end, Mycroft’s sister was essentially exiled, given a new identity in America, and at fifteen years old she was considered officially dead. Mycroft arranged it all and was able to retain his political power AND keep his sister, never needing either to submit to blackmailers, or sacrifice the life of a loved-one.
  * Irene’s existence was wiped from Sherlock’s memory; it was as if she had never existed. This was achieved with some sort of hypnosis or neural linguistic programming, or maybe something more experimental and dangerous/unethical. It was a devastating complication of the mission to fake his sister’s death; Sherlock had threatened to sabotage the mission, or go after his twin to protect her, a move that might have killed them both. The trauma of the memory erasing procedure and the loss of his other half (his heart) caused him to dedicate himself to brainwork and lock away what remained of his heart forever. 
  * After what happened with his sister, Mycroft went to great lengths to prevent his little brother Sherlock from being the next target in line. Mycroft ensured that Sherlock remained alone, and isolated, as this helped keep him safe. 



  * It kept him out of the spotlight and prevented him from being noticed by people like Moriarty. In addition to this, Mycroft created a persona that would trick people into thinking that he didn’t care about his brother, and that Sherlock would therefore not even qualify as a pressure point because he would  _not_  rescue his brother in the event that Sherlock was kidnapped or threatened. By pretending he didn’t care, it helped keep Sherlock safe from would-be blackmailers. The  _Ice Man_  was born.



Nice try Mycroft. This here is the actual truth….

We are shown exactly  _why_  Mycroft was  _so_  justified in trying to keep Sherlock alone when within a few months of meeting John, Sherlock was  _noticed_  by the most dangerous criminal mind in England. Moriarty had kept an eye on Sherlock over many years but wasn’t interested in him because he thought he was ordinary. Moriarty was searching for something different, something brilliant, and despite watching Sherlock for 20 years,  _he had not yet seen enough to interest him._  After John moved in however, Sherlock was suddenly dismantling an international smuggling ring with John, his conductor of light, to help him.

This explains why Moriarty did not try and make contact with Sherlock until TGG. He wasn’t interested before. Moriarty’s sudden interest in Sherlock confirmed Mycroft’s fears that a confident, successful Sherlock in a rewarding relationship was dangerous. Sherlock and Mycroft were both safer when Sherlock lived and worked alone; he was not as effective, and therefore not as noticeable or potentially threatening to the criminal world. That Sherlock’s “business was booming” after John’s arrival in his life is symbolic of the healing and empowering influence John had on Sherlock. 

If someone were to use Sherlock as leverage for Mycroft, Mycroft could be put under someone’s thumb, and such is Mycroft’s power that all of England would become their playground. As so much was at stake, Mycroft had been justified in [abducting Sherlock’s potential romantic interests within 24 hours of their involvement with Sherlock, and quickly and efficiently scaring them off. ](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/post/143766653090/pink-lady-foreshadowing)

Which of course he  _did_  try with John in the warehouse. I explained this at length in Part 1, so I won’t go into it all again. The most important detail is that when John failed to be scared off in ASiP (or recruited), Mycroft did not give up, he just needed time to come up with a new plan. He just moved on to Plan B. And come  _The Great Game_ , Mycroft is about to put Plan B into action.

 

##  **MORIARTY WANTED TO DIE WITH HIS RIVAL**

Jim had a very specific motive: he wanted desperately to die, but he wanted someone to defeat him first. Once he had found someone clever enough to outsmart him, he then wanted to die  **with**  his only true rival. This might seem like an awkward motive, but I think it’s what all the evidence points to, and I think it grew from the subtext of what Jim represents to Sherlock, which I will get into in another meta. But in fact, glorious suicide in order to bring down your enemy (with a bomb) does seem to echo current terrorist mentality, and there is that noticeable thread of a “terrorist” plot running through the show. 

_“Every fairy tale needs a good old-fashioned villain.”_

Jim is practically telling us that he’s a plot device. So his motives were designed by the writers to set-up the brilliant plot that unfolded and resulted in his suicide on Bart’s, and the set-up for that began during the pool scene. So his specific motivation (to die defeated with his ultimate rival) seems a bit awkward, but it reflects the subtextual story being told (which I’ll write about some other time), and it helps explain his behaviour throughout series one and two. So I guess some (or lots of) suspension of disbelief is required here as per usual…thanks for reading :)

Yet all the evidence is right there on the screen; I didn’t need to make any of this up. Because at the pool, we’re shown that Moriarty **wants to die** , we’re shown  **how he wants to die** , and we’re shown that he begins planning the showdown that happens at the end of  _The Reichenbach Fall._

Some evidence first from elsewhere in the show that  **Moriarty was suicidal…**

While it’s not really clear how much of the third Fall explanation in TEH was real, Sherlock  _does_  say:

_SHERLOCK (voiceover): But the one thing I didn’t anticipate was just how far Moriarty was prepared to go. I suppose that was obvious, given our first meeting at the swimming pool – **his death wish**._

And in Sherlock’s mind palace padded cell in  _His Last Vow_ , Jim hints that this is where he wanted to be (dead), and that it’s “all good”.

_“You’re going to love being dead Sherlock, no one ever bothers you…..Pain. Heartbreak. Loss. Death. It’s all good. It’s all good”._

And evidence from the Rooftop in TRF… 

JIM:  **Ah. Here we are at last – you and me, Sherlock, and our problem – the final problem.**  
 _(He holds the phone up higher.)  
_ JIM:  **Stayin’ alive! It’s so boring, isn’t it?**  
 _(Angrily he switches off the phone.)_

##  _**The final problem, is that staying alive is boring.** _

JIM:  **It’s just …**

_**… staying.**  
_ _(He pulls his hand back and briefly sinks his head into it while Sherlock paces around the roof in front of him.)  
_ JIM:  **All my life I’ve been searching for distractions. You were the best distraction and now I don’t even have _you_. Because I’ve beaten you.**  
 _(Sherlock’s head turns sharply towards him as he continues to pace.)  
_ JIM:  **And you know what? In the end it was easy.**  
 _(Sherlock stops and folds his hands behind his back.)  
_ JIM  _(quietly, disappointed)_ :  **It was easy. Now I’ve got to go back to playing with the ordinary people. And it turns out _you’re_ ordinary just like all of them.**

Staying alive is boring. He wants to die, and death is  ** _final_**. The  **problem** is, he wants to die in the most interesting way possible, as befits a master villain; which is where Sherlock comes in, and which is why Jim says “you and me, Sherlock, and  _ **our**_  final problem”. One of Moriarty’s mistakes is assuming that just because Sherlock is brilliant like him, that Sherlock wants to die like him. And [perhaps he would have wanted to](http://inevitably-johnlocked.tumblr.com/post/144649068240/why-was-sherlock-suicidal-before-he-met-john), if not for John. This is the difference between the two men; Sherlock found love, and it saved him from death. 

_“I should get myself a live in one” (TRF)_

_“It’s not fair, there’s two of you” (TAB)_

But in TRF, Jim only wanted to die once he had been defeated. He was desperate for this to happen, which is why he had become obsessed with Sherlock. After the pool, Jim was convinced that Sherlock was the only man alive who could give him his dream death. He only wanted it though, IF he could be beaten. 

He’s emotional and disappointed here because he now realizes that he won’t get what he wants, because Sherlock was ordinary after all and apparently failed to beat him at what was supposed to be Jim’s grand finale.  At this point, he plans to kill Sherlock by forcing him to jump, then going back to playing with ordinary people.  

And then…..Sherlock beats him (say  _what?_ ). Sherlock tricks him into thinking  _he_  wants to die too, that he  _isn’t_  on the side of the angels, and that he’s twisted enough to crave the same death. Sherlock gave Moriarty exactly what he wanted…

…which is why Jim killed himself. If what I’m saying makes zero sense, that’s because this idea is a tiny preview of one of my next chapters (and because I’ve got so much imagination, it will probably be called ‘A Reichenbach Theory’).

Maybe it will all seem more plausible if I show you that  _ **Bart’s rooftop was a parallel to the pool!!**_  They were interrupted at the pool, and it wouldn’t have ended the same, but the sequence of events is identical…

  * Moriarty longs for the chance to die beaten,  _with_ the person brilliant enough to beat him.
  * He doesn’t think that Sherlock is that person.
  * Sherlock suddenly proves him wrong, by beating him, AND making Moriarty think that Sherlock wants to die too.
  * In doing so, Moriarty is suddenly, unexpectedly, given exactly what he wants; the chance to die beaten,  _with_  his rival.



Here’s a demonstration:

Moriarty walks into the pool thinking that Sherlock was a fun distraction but he’s also certain from what he’s seen that Sherlock is on the side of the angels. Boring! Sherlock could  _never_  be the person he’s looking for; someone who would want to  _die_  with him in the ultimate battle of wits, he’s much too sentimental. And because Sherlock is ordinary, Moriarty means it when he says  _“Now you’re in my way”._ The flirting’s over, Daddy’s had enough,  _stop prying._ Jim had his fun, now he needs Sherlock  _gone_. Jim can’t afford Sherlock disrupting any more of his crimes.

_JIM: **You can’t be allowed to continue. You just can’t. I would try to convince you but … everything I have to say has already crossed your mind!**_

Jim doesn’t need to explain that there’s no way out of this for Sherlock, because he knows Sherlock is smart enough to deduce that much for himself, even if he’s not  _twisted_  enough to be the person Jim is looking for.

_SHERLOCK: **Probably my answer has crossed yours.**_

It’s a joke; it  _hadn’t_  crossed Jim’s mind. Jim didn’t think Sherlock was twisted enough to want to die, so Jim  _didn’t_  anticipate that Sherlock would do what he did. So when Sherlock lowered his gun to point it at the bomb, Sherlock ( _unintentionally_ ) did two things:

**1.** He  **beat**  Moriarty, by making a move that Moriarty hadn’t anticipated, and Moriarty  _hadn’t_  anticipated it because he thought Sherlock was  _ordinary_. 

**2.**  He demonstrated to Moriarty that  **he too would die**  for the game (Moriarty is only able to see Sherlock’s motives as selfish like his are, but in fact, Sherlock is giving his life to rid the world of Moriarty’s evil, not dying to rid himself of boredom and prove his brilliance, as Jim is doing).

So within the space of a few seconds, Jim has now been handed exactly what he longed for so desperately: He was beaten, and he was being given the chance to die  _with_  the person who was brilliant enough to beat him.

You can see it all on Jim’s face in the moments after Sherlock points his gun at the bomb:

_*I didn’t think he would do that. Oh God he beat me This is really happening Oh Shit Oh God*_

_*This is what you wanted Jim. You wanted to die. You didn’t think he was the one, but he IS! HE IS!!_ 😍   _Are you ready?*_

_*FUCK YES. Let’s do this. Sherlock Holmes, Thank You. Bless You*_

The next part just reinforces how absolutely pissed off Jim is that the moment was interrupted. As his phone rings he has every intention of continuing with the Let’s-Die-Here-Together plan after he deals with the interruption…

  
  


Moriarty mouths  _“sorry”_  to Sherlock as he takes the call, because he assumes that Sherlock is as impatient to die here as he himself is. It seems like just a joke, but it’s a clue both to Moriarty’s motive (he wants to die), and that he believes now that Sherlock is just like him (he thinks Sherlock wants to die too - hence why he apologized for the interruption).

This is where Moriarty was offered something  _better_  than what was right in front of him. What??? Didn’t I just go on and on about  _death with his rival being_  the thing that Jim longs for  _most in the world?_  Yes, yes I did. And now I’m saying that he was offered something  _better_? Yes, yes I am. I’ll come back to this later. I just wanted to establish Moriarty’s motive, and that it’s made very clear that death with his rival is what Jim wants, and that he almost had it right here at the pool.

 

##  **MYCROFT AND MORIARTY SHARE A COMMON GOAL**

I’ve just explained that up until Sherlock pointed his gun at the bomb, Moriarty considered him to be ordinary, or at least, on the side of the angels. Either way, Moriarty didn’t think Sherlock was likely to pan out to be his ultimate rival. Jim’s lines during the pool scene tell us pretty clearly that what he wants initially is for Sherlock to..

And he means it. Jim just wants him out of the way.

I talked earlier about the warehouse meeting in ASiP as Mycroft’s first attempt to get rid of John. Sherlock became better at his job after John joined him on cases, and within a month or two they had attracted Jim’s attention. This is what Mycroft feared would happen, which is why during TGG, Mycroft decides that it’s time to do something about it. Sherlock must remain alone and isolated; it had worked for years to keep Sherlock safe, and Mycroft intended it to keep on working. All he needed to do was to get John out of Sherlock’s life. How hard could it be? Sherlock was fine on his own before, and he’ll be fine again. In theory, things would then go back to how they were before; Sherlock would go back to solving just the small cases and he would be safe and out of Moriarty’s way. 

And…..oh will you look at that! 

_**Both Mycroft and Moriarty need Sherlock to stop getting in Moriarty’s way** _

Hmmm, a common goal. How convenient. Since Jim and Mycroft know each other anyway…

MYCROFT (in TRF): _“People like him, we know about them, we watch them.”_

Wouldn’t it make sense for them to work  _together?_  If Moriarty wanted Sherlock out of the way, firstly, Mycroft would  _know about it_ , and he would want to ensure it was done in a way that did not hurt Sherlock. So Mycroft could have easily suggested to Moriarty that he had a very simple, and tested, method of getting Sherlock out of the way. As long as Moriarty got the end-goal he wanted (Sherlock to stop prying), he would be willing to go along with Mycroft’s plans, especially if his end of the bargain involved being allowed to have a little fun along the way, a little distraction.

Mycroft has only tried the  _one time_  to get rid of John. Mycroft uses fear and intimidation to manipulate people; these are his weapons. But in the warehouse in ASiP, Mycroft learned that John is a bit braver than average.

So Mycroft’s Plan B for John is simple; use the  _same_ tactic (fear and intimidation, his specialties),  **but ramp it up a notch.**

 

##  **OPERATION: SCARE JOHN AWAY FROM SHERLOCK**

Remember throughout all of this, that what is at stake for Mycroft is:

_The security of the entire nation._

If someone were to use Sherlock as leverage over Mycroft, it would mean disaster for England. Mycroft knows that his love for his brother is a dangerous variable. Mycroft must constantly weigh costs and benefits, and with John out of the picture things will go back to how they were before, and no one will get hurt. Sherlock living out an isolated and private existence is a small price to pay for the safety of an entire country. 

So….Plan B. Mycroft just needs to come up with something that would be terrifying enough, and triggering enough, for John Watson to decide that being Sherlock’s flatmate and colleague was absolutely not worth it. It’s a fairly straightforward plan. Scare John off using something  _much_  scarier than the mildly spooky warehouse meeting was. John will clear off, move out of Baker St, give his apologies to Sherlock (or not) that this lifestyle is not for him, and Sherlock will be alone again. From Mycroft’s perspective it’s a neat solution, and no one need even be hurt. But Mycroft’s two biggest mistakes that will ensure his plan’s failure are 1)  _again_ , underestimating John, and 2) underestimating John and Sherlock’s love for each other. 

And Mycroft has exactly what he needs to prepare for his Plan B:  _John’s therapist’s notebook._

Mycroft knows there’s one thing that might push John over the edge; the cause of his PTSD, the thing that happened right before John was invalided home from Afghanistan: [a hostage situation](http://inevitably-johnlocked.tumblr.com/post/121533669815/was-john-ever-a-hostage). 

Mycroft brings his neat solution to Moriarty and guarantees him that Sherlock will soon be out of his hair. Part of the mission will be ensuring that Sherlock and John are thoroughly convinced of Moriarty’s power and influence, how dangerous he is, how ready and willing he is to kill. So Moriarty plays his game with Sherlock; the five pips. [The old lady’s death was planned all along](http://waitingforgarridebs.tumblr.com/post/149473981776/the-five-pips), to demonstrate Moriarty’s willingness to kill. When she began to describe the bomber it was still a script being read into her ear. The old lady never made a mistake, Moriarty set it up to look that way, yet had planned her murder from the start. Once Sherlock and John understood the pattern, and knew how far Moriarty was willing to go, John would be the fifth and last hostage.  

 

##  **THE BACK-UP PLAN**

_“There were thirteen likely scenarios once we were up on that roof. Each of them were rigorously worked out and given a code name.”_

Again that quote is part of the third fall explanation in TEH, so whether or not this really happened, it reminds us that even while planning his Plan-B-scare-off-John mission, Mycroft would have rigorously worked out every other possible scenario. You don’t get to be Mycroft Holmes without always planning for, and having a solution for every possible outcome. It’s a game of chess, and grandmasters like Mycroft can think 13 moves ahead. 

I’m about to go from 0 to 100 on the NOPE scale, so if you’re particularly sensitive to dark!Mycroft ideas then tread carefully. I’ve said quite a few times by now that Mycroft makes decisions  _for the greater good_ , and to keep his brother alive at all costs. I’ve also mentioned just how much is at stake. If John wasn’t scared off this time  _then Mycroft would have John killed_. 

Mycroft went to great effort to do all this in a way that wouldn’t get anyone hurt, but if John doesn’t leave Sherlock then John gives Mycroft no other choice. Anything else would be too messy, complicated, and risk Sherlock finding out who was behind it. 

Sherlock is the blunt instrument, but Mycroft is the scalpel, wielded  _with precision and without remorse_. A scalpel is for cutting an unwanted intrusion out, cleanly and precisely, with little bleeding or mess. It’s a delicate, fine blade, and out of the whole sword family, a scalpel is the most like a  _pen;_  a weapon to suit a politician. 

Because in the event that John wasn’t scared off, the deed would need to be done quickly and cleanly, leaving no trail back to Mycroft. 

_Ah, the bravery of the soldier. Bravery is by far the kindest word for stupidity, don’t you think?_

Mycroft told us back in ASiP that John’s bravery was  _stupid_. The saying goes that  _there’s a fine line between bravery and stupidity_ , because often bravery gets you killed, and this line is a clue to what Mycroft will be forced to do if John continues to be  _brave_. We learned a lot from our little glimpse of the real Mycroft in the warehouse in ASiP, and for the rest of the show we’re left with only tiny breadcrumbs to follow. There’s almost nothing to go on when it comes to Mycroft’s unseen actions in TGG, except…

…Mycroft’s dentist appointment. I believe that it’s an intentional reference to Arthur Koestler’s  _Darkness at Noon_ , and that Mycroft’s toothache tells us he’s feeling guilt over betrayal.

In the novel, Rubashov (that’d be Mycroft) was one of the communist party elite in the USSR during the second world war. Rubashov hopes that no matter how vile his actions, the sacrifice of millions of lives will be worth the happiness of future generations (in other words, he worked  _ **for the greater good**_ ). Yet as he sits and contemplates his  **betrayal of friends**  for the cause, he is crippled by pain in his abscessed tooth. 

**Mycroft’s tooth aches when he feels guilty over a betrayal** (all cred goes to [@watsonyourbed](https://tmblr.co/mtdHFh32x0NOUDMxH5sie3Q) for that idea). Which means that as well as a clue that Mycroft can’t talk on the phone on the day of the five pips because he’s working next to Moriarty ( _Mycroft only texts if he can’t talk_ ), the dentist appointment is also a beautiful piece of symbolism about Mycroft’s feelings of guilt over what he has planned for John. I’ll come back to the toothache in a minute, and show you the subtext that emerges in TGG when you tie all these ideas together…

 

##  **THE FIFTH PIP IS BURNING SHERLOCK’S HEART OUT**

Mycroft brings Sherlock the Bruce-Partington Plans case. The plans ended up essentially being the fifth pip; the case for which  _John_  was the hostage.

because **the fifth pip is burning Sherlock’s heart out** , and John is Sherlock’s heart.

_‘I will burn the heart out of you’_ was a promise from “Moriarty”, not Jim  _per se_. It was a symbolic statement of the motive of the person/people driving the plot; and that motive is  _to keep John from Sherlock_. 

Over five series ([five  _pips_](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/post/141226261335/good-things-come-in-fives)), Sherlock and John will fight the forces set against them in their battle to take back their agency from those who want to keep their love story from being told. Symbolically, Mycroft is the one who is, in effect, planning to burn Sherlock’s heart out, because  **keeping him from John** , forcing him to forgo the chance for true love and live out his life  **alone** , will **burn his heart out**.

Mycroft’s actions drive the plot because he needs (for reasons of his own) for Sherlock to remain alone, but for Sherlock, being forced to stay alone forever will reduce his heart to ashes.

Isolation is death for Sherlock, which the subtext tells us  _over and over and over_. Sherlock is almost killed when he keeps John out of Soo Lin’s flat in TBB. Isolation = death. Sherlock would have died if John didn’t show up and shoot the cabbie. Isolation = death. Sherlock would have died in his Victorian dream if John didn’t show up at the Reichenbach Falls and save him. Isolation = death. 

And because the subtext compares isolation to death, they’re telling us that for Sherlock, a life spent alone, without John, is comparable to literal death. 

And as the one with a motive to keep John from Sherlock, which comes from a place of misplaced love and protection, Mycroft is the one who will inadvertently end up burning Sherlock’s heart out if he continues his agenda until John ultimately ends up either dead, or permanently separated from Sherlock.

I know. _I know_ , and I’m sorry. It’s just one possible solution. I think Mycroft represents the [“Big Bad”](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Ftvtropes.org%2Fpmwiki%2Fpmwiki.php%2FMain%2FBigBad&t=MzNkMTc1ZmYzZWE4NWRlMWYwOGJmZjc1ODBkNmJjNDAyYTY4NDI3YyxtdXc3WWJWSg%3D%3D&b=t%3AifT3Q8QrCR8YgkxriemfHQ&p=http%3A%2F%2Ftjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F151676075300%2Fa-pool-scene-theory&m=1), the driving force keeping Sherlock and John apart, because he is trying to  _take_  from the hero the one thing the hero wants  _most_. 

Here’s a little demonstration of some subtext that emerged and punched me in the face when I put all of these ideas together;  _Mycroft’s agenda, the meaning of the “fifth pip”, the toothache._  

What we see on a surface level is that…

John rushes back from Sarah’s after the bomb blast across the street. 

Mycroft is trying to get Sherlock to take the Bruce-Partington Plans (BPP) case. Sherlock is being stubborn and we find out that he’s only refusing the case on principal, John suspects, because of “sibling rivalry”. In the end, Mycroft gives up and walks over and hands the case file to John.

Now consider the entire scene again on the  _ **subtextual level**_  …

The Bruce-Partington Plans were the fifth pip, which I’ve just established is burning Sherlock’s heart out. Sherlock’s heart is John. And Mycroft’s  _Back-Up Plan_  is to have John killed to potentially save many millions of other lives (because the security of the nation is what is at stake). So this BPP case file…

…is a stand-in for the mission to strap a bomb on John and scare him off permanently, or kill him. So consider thiscase file, pictured above, as  _ **John’s death warrant**_. 

Mycroft is at Baker St (not to mention  _sitting in John’s chair_ , attempting to replace John’s presence in Sherlock’s life) and glances at John like this as he enters the room…

…lowering his eyes; sometimes a sign of guilt or deception. All these little acting choices are clues, and this brief shot of Mycroft’s facial expression is included for a reason.

So when Mycroft sits there trying to convince Sherlock to solve this case, the case that represents the agenda against John, he’s offering Sherlock  _ **one last chance**_  to take care of this himself before the five pips begin, to get rid of John on his own terms so that no one need be hurt.

And how does Sherlock react?  _ **He stubbornly refuses to even consider it**_. Sherlock is not going to get rid of John. This is what John saw as sibling rivalry, and John was right; this is the feud between the brothers that has been going for decades; Mycroft’s attempt to control Sherlock by keeping him alone, and Sherlock’s bitterness that he should have his life dictated for him.

Sherlock’s refusal to work on the BPP case is a small defiance that reflects the larger subtext of triumph over our oppressors, a first tiny spark of revolution. Sherlock’s intransigence is his rejection of this life that Mycroft had planned for him (a life lived alone), and an expression of his intent to take it back. Sherlock  _was_  willing to play along with Mycroft’s “protection” of him, but only until he met John.

Mycroft tells us again what is at stake; just as I mentioned earlier, what is at stake is  _ **the security of the nation**_ , which is why the BPP case is….

And because Sherlock refuses to get rid of John on his own terms, the  _ **exact**_ moment that we see Mycroft’s toothache kick in… 

…is the moment that Mycroft is forced to  ** _literally hand John his fate…_**

…and it’s hinted that the file is the fifth pip, the plan to strap John with a bomb, when the transition makes it look as if the file is catching on fire and exploding, at the very moment John touches it.

Sherlock’s intransigence means that the operation will go ahead; the Five Pips, then the Back-Up Plan if necessary. 

Mycroft is continually trying to find a way to do this without hurting John. In the above scene he is pleading with Sherlock to take care of it himself, almost as if Mycroft and Sherlock have an old agreement we’re not aware of. As if it’s been an unwritten rule that Sherlock should lay low and live modestly to help protect him from enemies looking to find leverage over Mycroft. But now there’s John, and Sherlock doesn’t want to play anymore. 

When John comes to see Mycroft at his office, the toothache is predictably worse than ever. Mycroft hates that he needs to do this, and feels enormous guilt over what he is planning for someone he likes and respects, and someone who his brother cares for.   
  


##  **MYCROFT’S CHOICE**

Mycroft needed to make a choice all those years ago when he was first blackmailed and his family first put in danger. He needed to choose between his sister and his work, but he chose not to choose and kept both his  **sister alive**   _and_  his  **country safe** , by executing a clever plan to fake his sister’s death. With his sister “dead” his blackmailers no longer had power over him, and he was no longer under their thumb. He outsmarted his enemy, and didn’t need to make a sacrifice either way.

Twenty years later and Mycroft is still playing the game the same way, trying to beat the system with his brains, and avoid needing to choose. Where his solution with Irene was to hide her away, his solution with Sherlock has been to control every facet of his life, leaving him almost no freedom to live as he chooses. If Mycroft chose only his country, his siblings would have perished long ago. If he chose his siblings, millions of other lives might have been lost. He’s in a position that we can sympathize with, because  _ **what is the right choice?**_  As far as he’s concerned,  _he’s_   _doing everything he can to protect as many lives as possible._

But not choosing isn’t a solution, because the nature of his two choices tells us this; the two cannot co-exist. Like fire and water they cancel one another out. He simply cannot have both like he has been trying to do. It isn’t sustainable, which makes Mycroft’s approach a ticking time bomb counting down to his inevitable failure.  _Tick tock_ …doesn’t that remind you of something?

## The TAB Diogenes scene tells us the consequences of Mycroft’s agenda…

Mycroft needed to make a choice between family and country, but he chose not to choose.

## BUT YOU CAN’T HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO

_**have your cake and eat it too:**  to have or do two good things at the same time that are impossible to have or do at the same time_

What did I just say about Mycroft’s two choices?  _It’s impossible for him to have both at the same time_ , but that didn’t stop Mycroft trying. He wanted to protect Sherlock AND the people of England, but you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

So according to the idiom,  _ **Mycroft has both had his cake, and eaten it**_.

If you eat your cake  _and_  have your cake, then in theory you have a never-ending supply of cakes. And over many many years, Mycroft had his cake and ate his cake until he became…. _enormous_.

And when you adjust the food = sex metaphor to more broadly mean [food = feeling](http://that-sweet-little-posh-thing.tumblr.com/post/149757967048/thoughts-on-food-coding-or-why-food-sex-metaphor), just as [smoking = feeling](https://longsnowsmoon5.tumblr.com/post/141099946746/sherlock-and-mycroft-the-language-of-smoking), just as any consumption of food or drink or drugs separates us from machines who need none of these things, it implies that Mycroft is not the machine he makes himself out to be.

So we have Mycroft eating,  _feeling,_  much more than anyone expected, growing enormous from his compassion for a nation of people  _plus_  his family.

And of course Mycroft’s agenda is not sustainable because John and Sherlock will be together, at which point Mycroft will have failed at his mission to keep Sherlock  **alone**. Which is why Mycroft’s death from consumption, ie.  _trying to have it all,_  is the date that he will fail at one or the other.

And the expiry date for Mycroft’s agenda is…

which is also [the date that Sherlock and John will kiss](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/post/143237335980/tick-tock-johnlock), because a kiss is symbolic of Sherlock’s triumph over  _aloneness._

The consequences of Sherlock and John being  **together**  is Mycroft losing his ability to protect Sherlock, because Sherlock would become a prime target for use as leverage.

Canon johnlock means Mycroft cannot protect Sherlock the way he has been protecting him so far, so….

But rather than John taking over as “caretaker”, the story we’re really being told is not of protection but of  _ **liberty**_. Sherlock will be in safe hands with John, not because Sherlock needs to be taken care of, but because John’s kiss represents Sherlock’s freedom, and once symbolically freed from his oppressor he will no longer require protection. That’s how John will “look after” Sherlock;  _by freeing him._

(Also check out [@heimishtheidealhusband](https://tmblr.co/mWwl8cjpjONd2dxW6PgkBQQ) ‘s meta [Thank You, Wilder](http://heimishtheidealhusband.tumblr.com/post/136558389663/thank-you-wilder).)

However, for Sherlock to be fully freed from the constraints on his life from Mycroft’s work, for the metaphorical battle to be won, those constraints will need to disappear…that is, he will need to  **no longer be at risk** from being used as leverage over Mycroft. If you follow where I’m going with this…what I’m saying is that I don’t personally see any way around the fact that Mycroft’s metaphorical death is anything other than his actual literal death as well. Because as long as Mycroft  _exists_ , Sherlock could always be used as leverage. The subtextual story’s conclusion is that the threat for Sherlock disappears, the war is over, freedom is won. 

I needed to explain all that to show you that the writers are telling us that our choices define our lives and our fate, but that sometimes “choice” is an illusion, as it was for Mycroft. Because how do you choose between your family and millions of other lives? Perhaps the right choice is  _protect your loved ones first, **no matter what**_. Mycroft will lose, because he chose poorly.

The consolation is that at least Mycroft will know that Sherlock is safe with John, which is what Mycroft wanted all along, and as a bonus, Sherlock will be  _happy_  as well as alive. 

But that’s a long way in the future from where we are now….the pool scene. The reason I’m mentioning this all is because Mycroft was faced with this “choice” at the pool, and for someone who had never before chosen, and intended that he would never  _need_  to choose, what would then happen if in a single terrifying moment, any option to achieve a middle ground disappeared and  _Mycroft was asked to pick **one**  or the  **other** …_

 

##  **A POOL SCENE THEORY**

Sherlock invites Jim to the pool at midnight and the game is on. Mycroft is a long way away of course, but he has eyes and ears at the scene and snipers as well.

Jim walks in and acts appropriately terrifying. He’s got to convince them he’s not to be messed with, and that he’ll make good on his threats. Jim makes sure Sherlock understands the price he will pay if he doesn’t back off and stop prying. 

Exactly as planned, Jim carries out this terrifying performance then leaves, but the snipers remain, and Mycroft waits nervously watching and listening to see what happens.

This is precisely where Mycroft had anticipated that everything he had planned would fall into place. John would finally crack, the stress of being a hostage would get the better of him and he and Sherlock would argue, John would leave and go to Baker St to pack his things. This would have been enough of a success for Mycroft. He could take things from there, and ensure the “break-up” was final and that they didn’t reconcile. But that’s not what happened.

Instead, the ordeal seems to have brought them closer. They’re…giggling. And  _flirting_. Not for the first or last time, Mycroft underestimated John. There’s only one option left now, the code word is sent out, and the Back-Up Plan is go.

Jim walks back in to give them the news.

The very next thing that happened was that Sherlock pointed his gun at the bomb, which no one expected him to do.

But right before that,  **what was _supposed_  to happen was that the snipers would shoot John dead.** The sniper lights would go out, Sherlock would hear faint doors closing telling him the snipers had left, then Sherlock would be left there alone with his dead friend. 

Sherlock’s unanticipated move, then the phone call, were the game-changers.  **And while he didn’t know it at the time, Sherlock’s actions saved John’s life.**

But before I get ahead of myself, let’s go back to Sherlock surprising everyone by aiming at the bomb and threatening to blow all three of them up. I’ve already explained what was happening in Jim’s head, which was: surprise, a twinge of dread, then utter delight. Jim and Mycroft might have shared a common goal, but they have different motives, and from Jim’s perspective he had just been given everything he ever wanted; a dramatic death with his one true rival, having just been brilliantly outplayed.

So what was happening in Mycroft’s head as Jim was waiting for the  _boom_? For Mycroft, this is the worst thing that could have possibly happened. While yes, perhaps he wouldn’t need to deal with the Napoleon of crime anymore (his web would remain, so maybe it wouldn’t be such a win), Mycroft is about to lose his brother.

Mycroft has two options now, and both of them are a complete disaster. The first option is sit there, do nothing, and wait for the bomb to go off. He’ll lose his brother; not a good plan. 

The second option is call off the snipers and abort. He can tell Moriarty that he’ll take care of it in a different way. It didn’t go as expected, so why not just call it all off and come up with a Plan C for another occasion? Easy, right? Mycroft has control over the situation; this is his operation, surely it makes perfect sense to send out a code word and rescue…..Sherlock….

_**Rescue**  Sherlock_. 

If Mycroft called off the snipers, everyone involved in the mission would be witness to Mycroft Holmes rescuing his brother, despite having maintained for years and years that Sherlock is not his pressure point. 

If Mycroft called off the snipers, Moriarty’s life would be saved too. Then Moriarty would know immediately that Mycroft will rescue his brother, and that Mycroft had been lying all along. In a single instant, Moriarty would know that Mycroft saves his brother if his brother is threatened,  _and Jim would have a pressure point for the most influential person in England._

Mycroft’s two options: 1) Do nothing and let Sherlock die 2) Rescue Sherlock, giving James Moriarty leverage over the most powerful politician in the country, effectively allowing him to  _do as he liked_  with the country. 

In other words his two options are 1) Save his brother’s life, OR 2) Save the country.

I said earlier that in a single instant, Mycroft’s ability to “cheat” the system by protecting _both_  his country and his brother, would disappear, and that Mycroft would be asked to pick  _one_  or the  _other_. And this is what is now going through Mycroft’s head as he sits in horror and watches as Sherlock aims the gun at the bomb.

So what did Mycroft do? Mycroft did exactly as he  _had_  been doing, and  _continued_  to do for the entirety of the ten episodes so far.  _ **He didn’t choose.**_

He  _couldn’t_  choose. But of course, this means that Sherlock would have died. Yes, yes it does.

**Mycroft’s inaction that would have resulted in the bomb going off reflects the subtext that his insistence on “having his cake and eating it too”, ie. not making a choice between family and country, inevitably leads to Sherlock’s (metaphorical) death.**

Because Mycroft’s refusal to make a choice is what required him to keep Sherlock alone in order to make his “agenda” work, and by keeping Sherlock alone, Mycroft was burning his heart out and inadvertently killing him. 

So in those moments between TGG and ASiB, Mycroft experienced what could only have been a [Blue Screen of Death](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Ftvtropes.org%2Fpmwiki%2Fpmwiki.php%2FMain%2FHeroicBSOD&t=OTc1NDM5N2NkMWMwMTg4MzQ0NDAxZmZmNGYyMzA2MjQ2Y2RkMzc2ZSxtdXc3WWJWSg%3D%3D&b=t%3AifT3Q8QrCR8YgkxriemfHQ&p=http%3A%2F%2Ftjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F151676075300%2Fa-pool-scene-theory&m=1) moment.

And of course, it only lasted a few seconds. Because then Moriarty’s phone rang. 

 

##  **WHAT IRENE SAID TO MORIARTY ON THE PHONE**

Irene Adler might not be the Napoleon of crime or the ‘British Government’, but she knows how the game is played, and can acquire more power and influence when she needs it. She knows “what people like”, that is, she knows their  _pressure points_. 

No one knows she’s the sister of the Holmes boys, no one but Mycroft. Sherlock has no knowledge of her, or that he ever even had a sister, thanks to the hypnotism/mindfuck that was dealt to him at the time of his sister’s death when they were 15 years old. 

But Irene knows who Sherlock is, and she has been able to watch him from afar. She knows people who can get her whatever she needs, and  **she has her people watching Sherlock, because she’s never completely trusted Mycroft with keeping him safe**. Irene had her own people feeding her information about her brother on the night of the pool, and she knew from her own sources that something was going to go down. 

And Irene is very glad indeed that she didn’t trust Mycroft to keep Sherlock safe, because as Irene discovers, the shit soon hits the fan and something goes wrong with whatever it is that Mycroft had planned. Mycroft is  _apparently_  about to just let Sherlock die, because he’s not doing anything to prevent that bomb from going off. Irene can’t believe what she’s witnessing, but she doesn’t have time to dwell on it because if Mycroft is not going to act then she will need to be the one to do it. She picks up her phone and dials the number. 

We know that Irene wasn’t planning on contacting Jim at that moment, because she was with a client and needed to excuse herself, for which reason we also know it  _wasn’t_  a coincidence that she randomly called with such excellent timing. 

We can also deduce from Jim’s response that Irene and Jim hadn’t spoken in person until now, because it’s implied that she asked who she was speaking to:

So it’s not suggested at all that they already had a working relationship. Several seconds pass in which Irene talks on her end, then…

  
  


This moment is  _terrifying_ , and whatever Irene said to him it was obviously VERY surprising, and was good enough for him to call the whole thing off and walk out of there. But Moriarty’s threats into the phone reflect how badly he wanted what was right in front of him (death with his rival), and therefore how seriously pissed he would be if he threw away this opportunity for what turned out to be nothing. The phone call may have seemed like a cop-out plot-line to move ASiB forward, but it’s strongly suggested that Irene said something  _very_  significant to Jim on the phone.

I’ve already explained the evidence that Moriarty’s motive was to die beaten, but that he didn’t know he was going to have that opportunity that evening, because he didn’t anticipate that Sherlock would do something as terribly interesting as threaten to blow them both up, a move which beat Moriarty in that moment. Jim had underestimated Sherlock, and now he was being offered this opportunity to die exactly as he wanted.

So if we know what it was Moriarty wanted  _most_ , and we know that he currently  _had_ it right in front of him, then what COULD Irene have offered him that was  _better_?? Technically, there is nothing, right? 

_Unless what Irene offered him was **exactly the same thing, but MORE of it.**  _

At the moment Irene calls, Jim has definitely noticed that Mycroft was NOT going to step in and save his brother. Clearly, Sherlock is NOT useful as a pressure point for Mycroft, just as Jim had been lead to believe. But if Jim DID have a pressure point for Mycroft, well then THAT would be a game changer. With leverage over the most powerful figure in England, Jim could have anything he wanted. If he wanted to play with Sherlock, engage him in an ultimate battle of wits, then die beaten together with his rival, then he could HAVE that, but he could do it BIGGER and BETTER next time. 

Irene knew enough to know exactly what calibre of offer she would need to give Moriarty in order to get him to reconsider what he already had right in front of him. Irene possesses what just happens to be the ONE thing that will make Jim walk away and leave Sherlock unharmed. So Irene tells Jim what she has for him;  _a real live pressure point for Mycroft Holmes_ , one that he WILL rescue. But how do we know he WILL rescue them? He apparently wasn’t going to save his very own brother, so what evidence is there that he would rescue anyone?  _Because Mycroft has been hiding her_. He wouldn’t have bothered to  _hide_  her if she wasn’t important.  _So Irene offers herself to Moriarty._  She reveals her true identity to Jim right there on the phone; a pressure point for Mycroft Holmes, one that he has been  _hiding_ , alive and well, a  _sister_  living right here in London with a false identity.

Jim will walk away for this, but only because he knows instantly that this means he can  _do it all again but bigger and better_ , with the  _same end result_ , now that he knows Sherlock is  _willing to play_ , and  _willing to die_. 

From here, the few, but very significant lines of dialogue,  _and_  the tiny details in Andrew’s performance, do nothing but corroborate this reading of the scene:

Jim, looking a little shocked,  _apologizes_. Because as I said earlier, Jim now thinks that Sherlock wants to die the same way he does.

Jim is  _already_  planning to do it all again; die with Sherlock,  _another day_.

YES, HE  _DID_. 

Well, shit.  _This is going to be good_.

_….as soon as I have everything organized…we’ll do this again._

  
  


This is where Moffat has used a sneaky little tactic with his script, by prompting the audience to ask the  _wrong_  question, then DISTRACT us with something more immediately interesting:

_WHO is this? Ooooh sexy BUM, ooooh dominatrix! OOOOH Irene Adler!!_

Before we know it, we’ve completely forgotten what happened at the pool, and the significance of the fact that  _Irene intervened in that situation at all_ , and the fact that  _she effectively saved Sherlock and John’s lives_. 

We’re excited to see more of Irene Adler, and Moffat has successfully planted the truth in plain sight then quickly moved our attention on to something else.

Because of  _equal_  importance are  _these_  questions that Sherlock should have asked:

_**Someone changed his mind. The question is, HOW? And…WHY!?** _

Irene just offered up her life for Sherlock’s. It wasn’t planned; she made the decision in a split second when she saw Mycroft about to let Sherlock die, in which case she made the decision to sacrifice herself  _ **without hesitation**_. 

(If you feel a niggling sensation of  _falling in love with Irene_ , welcome to the club; there’s two of us here, me and [@longsnowsmoon5](https://tmblr.co/m-kl_Tum3BZzaBuuAvxRHkQ))

Because now that her true identity is exposed, not only can she be used for leverage over Mycroft, but now the “killers” who were after her 20 years before will be able to find her again. Now she is at great risk, but she  _already_  has a plan.

She’s just made a deal with Moriarty, and will be working with him for a while yet. In the meant time, with her identity exposed she will be pursued by old enemies, and she will be constantly at risk until she manages to hide herself again. So Irene comes up with a scheme to play Mycroft and Moriarty against each other, and win back what she will need to make herself safe again. And this time she knows who is going to take it from. She’ll have her revenge on Mycroft, who not only exiled her for his own purposes all those years ago, but was apparently  _about to let Sherlock die_. But she won’t hurt him, she’ll just make him pay for what it costs her to protect herself. 

*****

Wow, that was a lot. Feel free to shoot lots of questions at me, I would love to hear people’s thoughts! Thanks for reading! xox

Part 4 coming soonish…. 

 

——————

Please feel free to talk about these ideas - knock yourself out! Just  **please** link back to this source if you incorporate these ideas into your metas or critique them on your own blog. All of this is built on the foundation of LSiT’s M-theory and other people’s work, and I’ve linked to other metas where I’ve incorporated their ideas. Otherwise, this theory-of-everything I’m writing in Parts, as a cohesive whole, is my original idea and unique as far as I can tell.  Thank you to [@longsnowsmoon5](https://tmblr.co/m-kl_Tum3BZzaBuuAvxRHkQ) and [@monikakrasnorada](https://tmblr.co/mkXZBObSWSQ7LEWKMb6_BCA) for beta reading these monstrosities for me. Thank you for your support lovely followers and friends. Tagging lovely people: [@sherlock-little-weed](https://tmblr.co/mBnb5Jb8I5xVhmcXSaAl5QA) [@cheuwing](https://tmblr.co/mLrVsnyDSzMAqBg8gcWMSZA) [@isitandwonder](https://tmblr.co/mFsqQSE2JWjcYbaG45JmOgw)[@ebaeschnbliah](https://tmblr.co/mBqRAqROLLdNBwKXWSbGPFA) [@may-shepard](https://tmblr.co/mB1YcXdEOjQmC078VGvUPhA)  [@gosherlocked](https://tmblr.co/mIezJLOqh6ybA-BhE420_yw) [@tendergingergirl](https://tmblr.co/mAUpLkk-g2KbCwvrDqp01Zg)[@xistentialangst](https://tmblr.co/mihRdOwU-w2lu8afJta3aOQ)

[OCT. 12 2016](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/post/151676075300/a-pool-scene-theory)

[#POOL SCENE](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/pool-scene) [#TGG](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/tgg) [#ASIB](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/asib) [#JIM MORIARTY](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/jim-moriarty) [#MYCROFT HOLMES](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/Mycroft-Holmes) [#IRENE ADLER](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/irene-adler) [#IRENE ADLER IS THE OTHER ONE](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/irene-adler-is-the-other-one) [#PRESSURE POINTS](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/pressure-points) [#LEVERAGE](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/leverage) [#BRUCE-PARTINGTON PLANS](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/bruce-partington-plans)[#THE FIVE PIPS](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/the-five-pips) [#MYCROFT'S TOOTHACHE](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/mycroft%27s-toothache) [#DIOGENES SCENE](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/tagged/diogenes-scene)

[42 NOTES](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/post/151676075300/a-pool-scene-theory)


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